€ommeHna.'\ CommelinacecB. 301 



Stem 2-3 ft. and upwards, as thick as a crow-quill, branch- 

 ing from the base, branches prostrate or subscandent, rooting 

 at the rather distant nodes, tips ascending; 1. 1^-3 by \-\ in., 

 .sessile, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 

 glabrous or puberulous, ciliate, sheath |-i in. long, loose, 

 glabrous ; ped. \-\ in., spreading or erect ; spathes |-i in., 

 ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute, glabrous or pubescent, base 

 cordate, lobes rounded ; cymes i- few-fld., shortly pedicelled ; 

 fl. i-f in. broad ; large pets, orbicular or cordate ; ov. 3-celled, 

 2 cells 2-ovuled, i i-ovuled; capsule \ in., broadly oblong, 

 acuminate, coriaceous, 5-seeded ; seeds oblong, cylindric, 

 tubercled and reticulate, brown. 



In shady places amongst grass in the low country ; very common. 

 Fl. Jan.; brilliant cobalt-blue. 



Also in E. Bengal, Burma, Malaya, China, New Caledonia. 



Burman's figure (Thes. t. 20, f. 2, and p. 69), C. paludosa^ Moon, is 

 probably this (but is not quoted by Linn, in Fl. Zeyl.) or C. clavata. 

 The Fl. B. Ind. refers it to C. persicariafolia. I entirely omitted this 

 species in my Syst. Cat. Ceyl. PL; and in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 134, 

 have inadvertently referred Hermann's specimen and Linnteus's species 

 to Aneilema nudi/lora, R. Br. Hermann's name is 'Diameneriya,' which 

 is usually given to the following. — Trimen. 



2. C beng-halensis, L.Sp.Pl.^i (1753V Diya-men^rlya, S. 



C. cucullata^ Moon, Cat. 5. Thw. Enum. 321. Clarke, Mon. 159. 

 C. P. 2314. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 370. Wight, Ic. t. 2065. Clarke, Comm. Beng. t. 4. 



Stem 2-3 ft, slender, dichotomously branched from the 

 base upwards, branches hirsute or pubescent, creeping and 

 rooting below; 1. shortly petioled, 1-3 by \-\\ in., ovate or 

 oblong, obtuse, pubescent or villous on both surfaces, base 

 unequal-sided, rounded, cuneate or cordate, veins 7-1 1 pairs, 

 sheath short or long, pubescent, villous or ciliate; spathes 

 1-3 together; shortly peduncled, funnel-shaped or turbinate, 

 auricled on one side, pubescent or hirsute; upper cyme- 

 branch 2-3-fld., lower i-2-fid. or o; sep. small, oblong, pu- 

 bescent; larger pets, orbicular or transversely oblong; 

 anth. oblong; ov. 3-celled, two cells 2-ovuled, one i-ovuled; 

 x:apsule \ in. long, pyriform, membranous, 5-seeded; seeds 

 oblong, closely pitted. 



Low country, a common weed in grass; common. Fl. Nov.-Feb.; 

 bright blue. 



Throughout Tropical Asia and Africa. 



Sometimes produces leafless shoots from base of stem which bear 

 cleistogamous flowers, followed by depauperate, pisiform, subterranean 

 capsules. 



3. C. clavata, Clarke^ Comm. and Cyrt. Beng. t. 5 (1874). Giri- 

 pala, S. 



