300 CommelinacecB. [Commelina,. 



orbicular-ovate, glabrous or pubescent ; pet. orbicular ; fiL 

 slender, anth. minute ; fr. \ in. diam., blue, shining. 



Shady places in low country; rather rare. FI. August, Sept.; white 

 or pale pink. 



Also in India, Burma, Malaya, China, New Caledonia. 



2. COMMZ:X.ZNA, Li7i7i. 

 Annual, branching herbs, usually diffuse, often creeping 

 below ; 1. various, veins subparallel ; infl. of simple or bifid 

 scorpioid cymes enclosed in a complicate spathe, from which 

 the fl. emerge singly; sep. 3, small, free or two connate; 

 pet. 3, two large, clawed, third smaller, subsessile ; stam. 3,. 

 hypogynous, fil. slender, naked, anth. oblong, one larger than 

 the others ; staminodes 2 or 3, like the stam., but with 

 deformed cruciform anths. ; ov. 3-celled, or 2-celled from the 

 suppression of the dorsal cell, cells 1-2-ovuled, style slender, 

 glabrous, stigma punctiform ; capsule hidden in the spathe by 

 the decurving of the pedicel of the cyme after flg., 2-3-celled, 

 loculicidally 3-valved, or with the dorsal cell indehiscent, cells 

 i-2-seeded, valves membranous or coriaceous ; seeds small, 

 testa various, smooth, tubercled, or pitted, embryo at the 

 ventral side of the seed. — Sp. about 90; 20 in Fl. B. Ind. 



The species of Commelina are very variable in size, habit, and in- 

 dumentum, and the Herbarium material from Ceylon of several is quite 

 insufficient for good descriptions. 



Ov. 3-celled, two cells 2-ovuled, one i-ovuled or obsolete. 

 Capsule 3-celled. 



Spathe ovate or ovate-lanceolate . . i. C. nudiflora. 

 Spathe funnel-shaped or turbinate . . 2. C. benghalensis. 

 Capsule 2-celled. 

 L.-sheaths long. 



L. ovate or lanceolate. 



L. i-3 in., sessile . . . , 3. C. clavata. 



L. 3-5 in., petioled . . . . 4. C. PERSICARI.T.FOLIA.. 



L. narrowly linear 5. C. Thwaitesii. 



L.-sheaths very short . . . . 6. C. ATTENU.\TA. 



Ov. 2-3-celled, cells i-ovuled. 

 Spathe subsessile, short, broad. 

 Capsule 3-celled. 



L. 4-7 in., membranous . . , 7. C. OBLIQU.\. 



L. 2-6 in., subcoriaceous . . . 8. C. KuRZll. 



Capsule 2-celled 9. C. ensi folia. 



Spathe long-peduncled, narrow . , .10. C. appendiculata. 



I. C. nudiflora, L. Sp. PI. 41 (1753). Glrapala, 5". 



Herm. Mus. 16. Fl. Zeyl. n. 31. Moon, Cat. 5 (also C. diffusa^ Burm.). 

 C. saltci/olia, Thw. Enum. 321 (part), non Roxb. Clarke, Mon. Comm, 

 144- C. P. 3358. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 369. Clarke, Comm. Beng. t. i (C communis). 



