Commelina benghalensis |
Commelina erecta |
|
---|---|---|
Benghal dayflower, dayflower, jio, tropical spiderwort |
erect dayflower, whitemouth dayflower |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual. | Herbs, perennial. |
Roots | thin, rhizomes short, subterranean, bearing cleistogamous flowers produced from base of plant. |
fleshy, stout, tufted. |
Stems | ascending to decumbent or occasionally scrambling. |
cespitose, usually erect to ascending (rarely decumbent, rooting at nodes). |
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. |
leaf sheath auriculate at apex; blade sessile or petiolate, linear to lanceolate (rarely lanceolate-ovate), 5–15 × 0.3–4 cm, apex acuminate (rarely acute). |
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 vestigial, included; spathes solitary or clustered, green, pedunculate, not at all to strongly falcate, 1–2.5(–4) × 0.7–1.5(–2.5) cm, margins longly connate, glabrous except along connate edge, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes purple, usually variously pubescent; peduncles 0.5–1(–2) 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 and staminate, 1.5–4 cm wide; proximal petal minute, white, distal petals blue (rarely lavender or white); staminodes 3, staminodes and medial stamen entirely yellow; antherodes cruciform. |
Capsules | 3-locular, 2-valved, 4–6 mm. |
3-locular, 2-valved (very rarely 3-valved), 3.5–4.5 × 3–5 mm; abaxial locule warty, indehiscent (very rarely smooth and dehiscent); adaxial locules smooth, dehiscent. |
Seeds | 5, brown or blackish, seeds of adaxial locule 1.7–2.5 mm, shallowly reticulate, farinose. |
3, brown, with soft, whitish tissue at both ends or in a band, 2.4–3.5 × 2.3–2.8 mm, nearly smooth. |
2n | = 22. |
= 60. |
Commelina benghalensis |
Commelina erecta |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Citrus plantations, fields, yards, and other cultivated and disturbed sites | Rocky woods and hillsides, scrub oak woods, pine woods and barrens, sand dunes, hummocks, shale barrens, roadsides, railroad rights-of-way, fields, and occasionally a weed in cultivated ground |
Distribution |
CA; FL; GA; LA; neotropics; native; paleotropics [Introduced in North America]
|
AL; AR; AZ; CO; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NM; NY; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; Central America
|
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 erecta grows in temperate regions of North and Central America, as well as in tropical regions. This is by far the most variable species of Commelina in the flora. Three freely intergrading varieties may be recognized, although they are of questionable significance: C. erecta var. erecta, with larger leaves lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate, (1.5–)2–4 cm wide, and spathes (2.2–)2.5–3.6 cm, occurs throughout our region; C. erecta var. angustifolia (Michaux) Fernald, with leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate, 0.3–1.5 cm wide, and spathes 1–2 cm, is mainly southern but extends as far north as Virginia; and C. erecta var. deamiana Fernald, with leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate, 0.5–1.7 cm wide, and spathes 2–3.5 cm, occurs in midwestern United States south to Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22. |
Parent taxa | Commelinaceae > Commelina | Commelinaceae > Commelina |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. angustifolia, C. crispa, C. elegans | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 41. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 41. (1753) |
Web links |