climbing dayflower
Family
CommelinaceaeScientific Name
Commelina diffusaOther Common Names:
spreading dayflower
Habit
Spreading dayflower is a creeping annual herb that can be found in forest, floodplain, mesics, wetland, marsh, and culturally developed land. Plants are more common in turfgrass that is sandy. Seeds germinate in spring and plants grow and bloom until frost. Blooms typically last one day, hence the name dayflower. Plants reproduce by seed and vegetative stolons, which root at the nodes.
Leaves
Leaves are bright green, alternately arranged, hairless except on the sheath, and have parallel veins. Leaves are lance shaped 2.5 to 8 cm long and 0.4 to 1.5 cm wide with margins that curve upward giving the leaf somewhat of a cupped shape. Leaves and stems are shiny and typically lack hairs.
Identifying Characteristics
Creeping herb produces short erect branches with shiny lanced-shaped leaves. Flowers are blue, showy, and have two larger petals and one smaller petal. All three petals are typically blue in spreading dayflower but the smaller flower is typically white in Asiatic dayflower, a related species. Nodes are swollen and will often root when in contact with the soil.
Flower Seed Head
Flowers are blue or rarely white born in a leaf-like enclosure that opens along the margins. They are about the size of a dime. Flowers have three blue petals. Plants are called dayflower because the flowers typically last only one day after opening.
Seed Fruit
Fruit is a green to yellow-green capsule with 2 to 3 compartments that split along a seam. Brown to black seeds are pitted with numerous depressions and 2 to 4 mm long.
Where Found
Spreading dayflower originated from Asia. Today, it can commonly be found in the southeast and south central US and in tropical Asia extending eastward into Polynesia, including Hawaii.
Growth Habit
prostrate and nonwoody
Thorns or Spines
not present
Approximate Flower Diameter
Varies:
pencil,
dime
Dominant Flower Color
blue
Flower Symmetry
not symmetrical
Leaf Hairs
Varies:
has hairs,
no hairs
Leaf Shape
lance
Leaf Arrangement
alternate
Leaf Margin
entire
Leaf Structure
simple
Leaf Stalk
none
Stem Hairs
no hairs
Stem Cross Section
round or oval
Milky Sap
not present
Root Structure
fibrous
Life Cycle
summer annual
Ochrea
not present
Plant Type
Herb