WorldFloraDB - Commelina forskaolii

Characteristics

Herbs, annual or perennial, mat-forming. Roots thin. Stems erect to ascending, to 30 cm. Leaves: leaf sheaths not auriculate, with colorless hairs at summit; blade oblong or lanceolate-oblong to oblong-elliptic, 1.5--6 ´ 0.4--1.1 cm, margins strongly undulate, completely glabrous or adaxially sparsely pilose. Inflorescences: distal cyme usually exserted, 1-flowered; spathes solitary, pedunculate, strongly inflated, not falcate, 0.7--1.5 ´ 0.5--0.9 cm, margins connate, often violet, apex acute, sparsely hirsute; peduncles 0.4--1.1 cm. Flowers sometimes cleistogamous and subterranean (not yet seen in our area); chasmogamous flowers bisexual and staminate; petals blue, proximal one very reduced, conspicuous (blue, rather than white or colorless); lateral stamens with filaments laterally compressed and ± winged; antherodes entirely yellow, cruciform. Capsules 3-locular, 2-valved. Seeds sometimes 5, brown, usually only 1 abaxial locule seed developing, enclosed in deciduous, muricate, abaxial capsule valve; seeds of adaxial locule, when present, 2.5 mm, smooth. 2n = 30.

More

Spreading annual herb or chamaephyte with long, trailing stems rooting at nodes and forming short erect branches and often subterranean stolons bearing reduced cleistogamous flowers. Leaves folded, linear to oblong, 20-70 mm long, margins wavy, pale greyish green, glabrous or puberulous. Spathes 1-2, terminal and leaf-opposed, shortly pedunculate, obliquely funnel-shaped with a short, acute apex, c. 10 mm long. Both cymes developed. Petals blue. Lateral stamens with filaments more or less winged. Capsule sub-obovoid; dorsal locule indehiscent, striate-muricate, 1-seeded; 2 ventral locules 2-ovulate but usually forming only 1 seed; testa smooth.

Spreading, annual herb. Spathes obliquely fused, mucilaginous inside when flowering. Capsule quadrate. Roots thin. Leaves oblong to linear, usually greyish green, margin strongly undulate. Leaf sheaths with short, colourless setae at mouth. Flowers pale sky-blue.

A herb. The stems are fleshy and lie along the ground. They form roots at the nodes. The leaf stalks form a sheath around the stem. The leaves are small. The flower emerges from a pocket like spathe. The flowers are blue.

Life form	annual
Growth form	herb
Growth support	free-standing
Foliage retention	deciduous
Sexuality	hermaphrodite
Pollination	-
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Environment

A tropical plant. It grows on gravely soil. It can be on sandy soil over limestone material. It grows from sea level to 1,700 m above sea level. It grows in hot arid places and places with a marked dry season. It can tolerate drought. It can grow in arid places.

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Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

The seeds are used to make flour for bread. The leaves are cooked and eaten. They are soft when cooked so are often mixed with coarse vegetables or maize.

Uses	medicinal
Edible	leaves seeds
Therapeutic use	-
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Cultivation

Plants are grown from root cuttings.

Mode	-
Germination duration (days)	30 - 37
Germination temperacture (C°)	21
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