Asiatic dayflower
(Commelina communis L.)

Overview

Appearance

Commelina communis is an annual herb with many branched, prostrate stems, which are minutely pubescent distally, and about 3.4 ft. (1 m) long.

Foliage

The leaves are lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.2-3.5 in. (3–9 cm) long and 0.6-0.8 in. (1.5–2 cm) wide.

Flowers

The inflorescence is a cyme with one flower near the top, with dark blue petals and membranous sepals about 0.2 in. (5 mm) long.

Fruit

Fruit are two-valved capsules that are elliptic from 2-3 in. (5–7 mm). The two seeds in each valve are brown-yellow, 0.08-0.12 in. (2–3 mm) long, irregularly pitted, flat-sided, and truncate at one end.

Ecological Threat

Commelina communis can be found in moist, shady forest edges. It can be found in wet areas of crop fields, orchards, ditches, and roadsides.

Selected Images

Maps

Invasive Listing Sources

• Invasive Plant Species of West Virginia
• Jil M. Swearingen, Survey of invasive plants occurring on National Park Service lands, 2000-2007
• Kentucky Exotic Pest Plant Council - Moderate Threat
• National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Exotic Plant Management Team Invasive Plant List
• Non-Native Invasive Plants of Arlington County, Virginia
• Nonnative Invasive Species in Southern Forest and Grassland Ecosystems
• Virginia Invasive Plant Species List
• WeedUS - Database of Plants Invading Natural Areas in the United States
• West Virginia Native Plant Society, Flora West Virginia Project, and West Virginia Curatorial Database System, September 3, 1999

References