Classification of Plants 



251 



Order Commelinace^. 



This order consists of a few genera of creeping or spread- 

 ing herbs with sheathing leaves and jointed stems. The 

 flowers wither quickly, and, unlike most monocotyledons, the 

 calyx is green and the corolla only is coloured. Anthers of 

 some filaments are either wanting or some are differently formed 

 from the others. Fruit a 3 -celled capsule or indehiscent. 

 Ovules few, orthotropous. Seeds endospermous, often arillate. 



Fertile stamens 3-2 ; sterile 0-4. Flowers zygomorphic. 



CoMMELiNA. — Inflorescence of 2-1 cymes included within a funnel- 

 shaped bract. 



Aneilema. — Inflorescence panicled, not included within a spathe. 



Fertile stamens 6-5. Flowers actinomorphic. 



Capsule 3-celled. Flowers axillary clustered. 



CoLEOTRYPE. — Stamens inserted high on corolla tube. Blue or white 

 with beaded hairs. 



Cyanotis. — Stamens hypogynous. Blue or purple. 



Capsule 2-celled. Racemes panicled. 



Floscopa. — Flowers rufous, hairy. Stamens without beaded hairs. 



Fig. 



227. — Sheathing leaves and adventi- 

 tious roots of Coni7nelina. 



Fig. 228. — Flowering shoot of 

 Co7mneli}ia, shovv^ing two stalked 

 petals and different kinds of sta- 

 mens, 



Linnaeus, with all his love for study of plants, enjoyed a 

 joke. He tells us that he named this genus after three Dutch 

 botanists, the brothers Commelyn, because two of them, 



