446 COMMELINACEAE. [ Tradescantia. 
chiefly tropical Order, apne to both Worlds. 
pati irregular; fertile stamens : ; ; 1. Commelina. 
Flowers regular; fertile stamens rie ‘ ; : : : ; : 2. Tradescantia. 
1. COMMELINA, L. 
Perianth irregular, 2 sepals larger nee the third, and 1 petal differently 
shaped or more se sisi than the 2 ers. Stamens 6, or rarely ae 
of which 3 are fertile, one of sia larger than the éiher ers; 3 barre 
with deformed anthers. Stigma entire. Ovary with 2 biovulate ee 
uniovulate cells. ee oe 2-valyed, one cell remaining, unde- 
veloped. Embryo horizonta ncles facial and lateral from the 
split leaf- nek opposite iis blkde bisa, bearing a conduplicate or hood- 
shaped bract at the division, the branches cymose, one of them weaker 
and with fewer male or sterile flowers. 
A genus of 88 species, with the range of the Order. 
1, C. nudiflora, L. Sp. Pl. p. 61. — C. B. Clarke, in De Cand. Monogr. III, 
144, — Creeping, glabrous. Leaves shortly petiolate from a loose ciliate 
sheath, oblong-lanceolate, 1—3‘ > 1/2—/s4‘, with 9—13 nerves, scabrous 
on the margins and above, smooth below. Peduncles about 1’ long; the 
bract cordate, acuminate, folded; the two branches 3—4-flowered, one 
remaining enclosed, the other exserted, puberulous, about as long as the 
peduncle; the fasciculate flowers polygamous. Petals blue, the lateral 
ones on claws, the third subsessile, rounded, very small. Seeds scro- 
biculate. — C. Pacifica, Vahl. — Seem. in Fi. Vit. p. 313. — C. Virginica, 
Forst. — C. Cayennensis, Rich. — C. agraria, K 
Common in eg localities of the lower regions. is isteasi over the warmer zones 
of the ‘Wtute wor 
2. TRADESCANTIA, L. 
Perianth regular. Sepals herbaceous, free, concave. Petals shortly 
clawed, persistent. Stamens 6, all fertile. Ovary sessile, 3-celled, each 
cell with 2 superposed ovules. Style elongate, with an entire obtuse or 
peltate stigma. Ra 3-celled, loculicidal. Seeds angular. — Leaves 
entire, on undivided sheaths. Flowers in simple or branched, mostly 
‘subumbellate unde the umbels sessile and involucrate by foliaceous 
bracts, or peduncula igi er bractlets. 
Twenty six species, all Ameri 
a T. geniculata, Jacq. — C. B. Clarke, in De Cand. Monogr. II, 300. 
— Stem 1—2 ft. long, nodose, rooting below, scarcely dividing. Lene 
distant, sessile on short loose sheaths, oblong-lanceolate, 3!/2— 41/2‘ % 
1—1}/2‘, acuminate, rounded or contracting at the base, glabrous above, 
lanuginous below and more so at the mouth of the sheath. Peduncles 
in the axils of the upper gradually decreasing leaves, 1— 2‘ long, once 
Hy 
