Nice caption...........
*Commelina diffusa** *Burm. f., Fl. Ind. 13, t. 7, f. 2. 1768; Rolla Rao in
Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 25: 179. 1964; Panigrahi & Kammathy in J. Ind.
Bot. Soc. 43: 299. 1964; Lakshminarsimhan in Sharma et al., Fl. Maharashtra
(Monocot.) 151, 1996; Faden In: Dassanayake (ed.), Rev. Handb. Fl. Ceylon
14: 184. 2000. *Commelina nudiflora *sensu Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 369.
1892 non* *L. 1753; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bombay 3: 290. 1906.
Perennial with diffusely spreading shoots rooting at the nodes,
lacking a definite base; roots thin, fibrous. Leaves distichous, sheaths to
2 cm long, ciliate at the apex, lamina linear-lanceolate to
lanceolate-elliptic, 1.5-9.5 x 0.4-1.8 cm, glabrous. Spathes on peduncles
(0.7-) 1.3-2.4 cm long, solitary, 1.1-3.5 cm long, 0.4-0.8 cm high, apex
acuminate, base cordate, not at all to slightly falcate, margins free,
smooth to scabrous or ciliolate, surfaces glabrous; upper cincinnus usually
1-several-flowered; lower cincinnus several-flowered. Flowers bisexual
(lower and occasionally upper cincinnus) and male (upper cincinnus),
(9-)11.5-17 (-20) mm wide, sepals free; paired petals c. 8 mm wide, blue;
medial petal smaller, concolorous; staminodes 2-3, anthrodes cruciform,
yellow; anther of medial stamen with a violet connective. Capsules
oblong-elliptic to quadrate, trilocular, 4.5-7 x 3-4 (-4.5) mm, dorsal
locule 1-seeded, ventral locules (1-)2-seeded. Ventral locule seeds broadly
ovate to transversely elliptic in outline, 1.7-2.8 x 1.3-1.8 mm , testa dark
brown, doubly reticulate, usually white-farinose.
*Flowering and fruiting:* October to July.
*Distribution:* Pantropical and warm temperate.
*Ecology:* Margins of pools, streams, rivers, ponds and marshes, sometimes
growing in water; roadsides, open scrub, evergreen forest, forest edge, and
weed in rice.
On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 10:33 AM, Narendra Joshi <[email protected]> wrote:
> Commelina Diffusa - Day Flower
>
> --
> With Regards,
> Narendra Joshi
>
--
Mr. Mayur D. Nandikar,
Research Student,
Department of Botany,
Shivaji University,
Kolhapur.
