264 COMMELINACEAE 
All three petals blue; anterior one somewhat smaller than 
the posterior.ones: leaf-sheaths with ferruginous hairs: 
capsule with the anterior carpels 2-seeded and the pos- 
terior carpel 1-seeded. 
I 
V. HIRTELLAE. 
I. COMMUNES 
Plants annual, diffusely spreading, the stems rooting at the 
lower nodes: leaf-blades lanceolate: anthers 6. 1. C. communis. 
II. LONGICAULES 
Plants mainly erect or diffuse with decumbent or climbing 
stems and erect branches: involucres mostly 2.5-5 em. 
long, long-acuminate: seeds smooth, over 2.5 mm. long. 
Spathe about thrice as long as wide: petal-blades reni- 
orm, the posterior ones long-claw l 
Spathe about four times as long as dim petal-blades del- 
toid, the e posterior ones short-clawed. 3. C. Gigas. 
Plants with creeping stems and Dh: involucres id 
less than 2.5 cm. long, acute: seeds reticulate, 2-2.5 m 
Y 
C. caroliniana. 
Ha 
. C. longicaulis. 
III. ANGUSTIFOLIAE 
Leaf-blades ovate to elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate : 
S petals 8-12 mm. long: seeds d fattened’ 
ant with procumbent ereeping stems and branches 5. C. elegans. 
Leaf- ades linear, lanceolate, or linear-lan mE pru Soto dor 
petals : 
Leaf-blades of a lanceolate type: seeds of E eu red dde 6. C. erecta. 
Leaf-blades of a linear or linear-lanceola e type: f 
a spheroidal type. 
E p 2-3 em. long, mostly with long white hairs 
ear the base. T. C. crispa. 
EA 1-2 cm. long, rarely with long white hairs 
near the base. 8. C. angustifolia. 
. IV. HIRTELLAE 
Relatively coarse herb with usually clustered spathes. 9. C. virginica. 
1. C. communis m and branches 
3—10 dm. long, eR ereeping: leaf- 
bl aris bend ate, 4—12 cm. long, aeute 
or nate: spathe 2-4 cm. long, 
mcd pre twice as long as wide: sepals 
45 m g: anterior 'petal white, 
rhombie- ovate or rhombic-lanceolate; pos- 
e ifo ue 
long: seeds 3.5-4 long.—Was 
de about gardens, put moist neni 
various province Ala. to Ark. Mo. 
Mass. and N. c —Nat. of ia.— 
Equally P home in natural habitats, and 
as a weed in waste- HH 
2. C. Midi ee Walt. Stem and v iu, erect or pee often more than 
1 m. long: leaf- d lanceolate, 8—12 em. long, acute or irm d spa e 
2.5—3.5 em. long, mostly pd thrice as Dea edu sepals 
B petal - ss than 5 mm. long, au ind rs 5, the E s POM 
eeds 3 mm. p or tly so.—Moist sandy soil and cult. 
ic Coastal Plain, N Fla. to Miss., "Mo, and S. C. 
3. C. Gigas Small Stem and d reclining and creeping, climbing 
shrubs and trees, often 3-5 ng: bi Wu p laneeolate, often narrowly 
12 em. long o apii acuminate: spathe 4-5 cm. long, about 4 times as e 
as wide: sep 4-5 long: era petal pe over 6 mm. : 
inc 5, the larger ones 5 2 mm. long: capsule not s en. Hammocks, Lake 
Okeechobee region, Fla.—Our most vigorous and a species. The herbage 
is frequently ie by cattle. 
