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creeping inchplant

basketplant

Habit Herbs, perennial, mat-forming, repent (flowering stems ascending). Herbs, perennial, robust, stoloniferous.
Stems

ascending, to 1 m. Leaves spirally arranged;

blade oblong to lanceolate-oblong, 15–30 × 2.5–5cm (distal leaf blades much narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, glabrous.

Leaves

2-ranked, gradually reduced toward ends of flowering stems;

blade ovate to lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong, 1–3.5 × 0.6–1 cm (distal leaf blades much narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), margins scabrid, apex acute, glabrous.

Inflorescences

sessile in axils of distal leaves of flowering stems, composed of pairs of sessile cymes (sometimes reduced to single cymes).

terminal, panicles to 30 cm or longer.

Flowers

bisexual and pistillate, odorless, subsessile;

petals inconspicuous, white, lanceolate, 3–6 mm;

stamens 0–6, long-exserted;

filaments glabrous;

ovary 2-locular, stigma penicillate.

fragrant, subsessile;

petals white, lanceolate, 6 mm;

stamens 6, long-exserted, connectives white, broad, flaglike;

filaments glabrous;

ovary 3-locular, stigma penicillate.

Capsules

2-locular.

3-locular.

Seeds

1 mm.

Callisia repens

Callisia fragrans

Phenology Flowering early spring (Tex) or summer–fall (Fla.). Flowering late winter (Feb).
Habitat Shady, rocky or gravelly places, and in citrus groves Pinelands and hummocks
Distribution
from FNA
FL; LA; TX; West Indies; South America (to Argentina) [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; Mexico; native [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 22. FNA vol. 22.
Parent taxa Commelinaceae > Callisia Commelinaceae > Callisia
Sibling taxa
C. cordifolia, C. fragrans, C. graminea, C. micrantha, C. ornata, C. rosea
C. cordifolia, C. graminea, C. micrantha, C. ornata, C. repens, C. rosea
Synonyms Spironema fragrans
Name authority (Jacquin) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl., ed. 2 1: 62. (1762) (Lindley) Woodson: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 29: 154. (1942)
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