100 PENNELL: PLANTS OF THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES 
3. COMMELINA LONGICAULIS Jacq. 
Commelina longicaulis Jacq. Coll. 3: 234. 1789. “Ad rivulos & 
in humidis crescit ad Caracas.” Description apparently of 
species here considered, although leaves unusually narrow. 
Figured in Jacq., Icon. Pl. Rar. pl. 204. 
Nephralles parviflora Raf. Fl. Tellur. 3: 70. 1837. “Kentucky 
and Tennessee.’ Type of the genus Nephralles Raf. 1. ¢. 70. 
A specimen of Rafinesque’s collecting, labeled “Kentucky,” 
and bearing this name, has been seen in the herbarium of 
‘Columbia University at the New York Botanical Garden. 
Commelina diffusa Burm. f. (Fl. Ind. 18. pl. 7. f.2. 1768) is 
treated as unidentifiable. While conceivably this, if the plant in 
both hemispheres be identical, the long pedicels, conventional 
flowers, and description (apparently contradicted by the figure) 
“involucro nullo”’ are not in accord with our plant. 
Flowers and fruits, southward throughout the season, north- 
ward, late summer and autumn. 
Moist loam or sandy soil, along streams, bretacntiy a weed in 
cultivated ground, from eastern Kentucky and eastern Kansas 
southward to Bolivia. As usually understood, a widespread 
species of tropical and subtropical regions. From the few speci- 
mens seen the writer is not convinced that the plant of the Old 
World tropics is conspecific with that of the New. Possibly locally 
or extensively introduced in the United States. 
PENNSYLVANIA. Philadelphia: = Navy Yard, on ballast; 
Philadelphia, 7. Burk (P.). 
GeorciA. Catoosa: along Chickamauga Creek, near Ring- 
gold, > August 6-12, 1895, J. K. Small (Y.). Thomas: along 
streets, Thomasville, > September 29, 1912, F. W. Pennell 
4736 (P.). Wilkes: A. W. Chapman (Y.). “Georg.,”’ ricefields, — 
Leconte, sub. nom. ‘‘ Commelina pestifera Leconte” (A.). 
Froripa. Franklin: low grounds, Apalachicola, > July- 
September, A. W. Chapman [Biltmore herbarium 203 8a} (Y.). 
Gadsden: moist ground, River Junction, > September 11, 1897; 
A. H. Curtiss 5991 (Y.). Lee: river bank, Myers, > July- 
August, 1900, A. S. Hitchcock 364 (Y.). Leon: Tallahassee, 
> August 7-9, 1895, G. V. Nash 2345 (Y.). Manatee: Osprey, 
> March 3, 1904, B. H. Smith (A.). 
Pinellas: low wet soil, 
Maye ee 
