The story
The plant's name is derived from the figure of the Wandering Jew, presumably at least partly from the tendency of those plants to spread through a garden (i.e. wander).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wandering Jew
Today it means: Any plant of three species of spiderworts, Tradescantia pallida, Tradescantia fluminensis, and Tradescantia zebrina. Full definition →