Commelina benghalensis |
Commelina communis |
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Benghal dayflower, dayflower, jio, tropical spiderwort |
Asiatic dayflower, comméline commune |
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Habit | Herbs, annual. | Herbs, annual, erect to decumbent. |
Roots | thin, rhizomes short, subterranean, bearing cleistogamous flowers produced from base of plant. |
at proximal nodes. |
Stems | ascending to decumbent or occasionally scrambling. |
diffusely branched. |
Leaves | leaf sheaths, not auriculate, often with red hairs at summit; blade ovate to lanceolate-elliptic, (1–)2–9(–11) × 1–3(–4.5) cm, apex rounded, obtuse or acute, pubescent. |
blade narrowly lanceolate to ovate-elliptic, 5–12 × 1–4 cm, apex acute to acuminate. |
Inflorescences | distal cyme often exserted and 1-flowered, sometimes vestigial; spathes often clustered, subsessile (peduncles 1–3.5 mm), funnelform, 0.5–1.5(–2) cm, margins connate basally, pubescent. |
distal cyme usually vestigial, included, sometimes 1-flowered, exserted; spathes solitary, green, paler or whitish basally with contrasting, dark green veins, pedunculate, usually not falcate, 1.5–3(–3.5) × 0.8–1.3(–1.8) cm, margins distinct, scabrous, not ciliate, apex acute to acuminate, glabrous to puberulent; peduncles 0.8–3.5(–5) cm. |
Flowers | chasmogamous flowers bisexual and staminate, subterranean cleistogamous flowers bisexual; petals of staminate flowers all blue (rarely lilac), proximal smaller; lateral stamen filaments not winged; staminodes 2–3; antherodes yellow, cruciform; pollen white; medial stamen pollen yellow. |
bisexual (rarely staminate); proximal petal paler or white, very reduced, distal petals blue to bluish purple; staminodes 3; antherodes yellow sometimes with central maroon spot, cruciform. |
Capsules | 3-locular, 2-valved, 4–6 mm. |
2-locular, 2-valved, 4.5–8 mm. |
Seeds | 5, brown or blackish, seeds of adaxial locule 1.7–2.5 mm, shallowly reticulate, farinose. |
4, brown, (2–)2.5–4.2 × 2.2–3 mm, rugose pitted-reticulate. |
2n | = 22. |
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Commelina benghalensis |
Commelina communis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Citrus plantations, fields, yards, and other cultivated and disturbed sites | Weedy and waste places, edges of fields, woods, and marshes, often in thick herbaceous vegetation, occasionally in woods |
Distribution |
CA; FL; GA; LA; neotropics; native; paleotropics [Introduced in North America]
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AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; ON; QC; native; Asia [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Commelina benghalensis was first recognized and collected in California in 1980. The California plants are approximately hexaploid and represent a separate and much later introduction than the southeastern plants. The species is federally listed as an Obnoxious Weed. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Commelina communis var. ludens (Miquel) C. B. Clarke is distinguished by its darker flowers, antherodes with maroon centers (instead of entirely yellow), distalmost cyme less well developed and usually not producing a flower, and spathes proportionally broader. I have not found it possible to separate this regularly from C. communis var. communis, which also occurs in the flora. A variegated form of C. communis var. ludens, forma aureostriata MacKeever, occurs spontaneously and has been noted from Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22, p. 193. |
Parent taxa | Commelinaceae > Commelina | Commelinaceae > Commelina |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 41. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 40. (1753) |
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