Knowra Commelina Commelina Commelina is a genus of flowering plants in the family Commelinaceae, native mainly to tropical and subtropical regions. Its species are commonly called dayflowers.
Commelinaceae : Commelinaceae is a family of monocot flowering plants that includes dayflowers and wandering Jews. Commelina is one of the family’s largest and most widely distributed genera.
Asiatic dayflower : Commelina communis is an annual dayflower native to East Asia and introduced widely beyond its native range. This common species exemplifies the genus’s short-lived flowers and distinctive blue petals.
Agricultural weed : An agricultural weed is a plant growing where it competes with cultivated crops or interferes with farming. Several Commelina species spread in fields and can be difficult to control.
Tradescantia : Tradescantia is a genus of flowering plants in Commelinaceae, including spiderworts and wandering Jew plants. It is a familiar relative in the same family, with similar three-petaled flowers.
Eichhornia crassipes : Eichhornia crassipes, commonly called water hyacinth, is a free-floating aquatic plant in the family Pontederiaceae. Its showy blue flowers resemble some dayflowers, but it is aquatic and belongs to a different family.
Monocotyledon : A monocotyledon is a flowering plant whose seed typically contains one embryonic leaf. Commelina belongs to the monocots, whose floral parts often occur in threes.
Benghal dayflower : Commelina benghalensis is a tropical dayflower that roots at nodes and can produce both aerial and underground flowers. Its unusual underground reproduction helps explain its persistence as a crop weed.
Edible plant : An edible plant is a plant or plant part consumed as food by humans. Young leaves and shoots of some Commelina species are eaten in parts of Africa and Asia.
Murdannia : Murdannia is a genus of flowering plants in the dayflower family, Commelinaceae. It is another Commelinaceae genus that shares some floral and vegetative traits with Commelina.
Purple loosestrife : Purple loosestrife is a wetland plant, Lythrum salicaria, native to Europe and Asia and invasive in parts of North America. It is another conspicuous invasive plant, but its flower structure and family differ sharply from Commelina.
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