VIRGINIA DAY-FLOWER 



CommeXina virginica. Spiderwort Family. 



THE attractive little petals of tke Day-flower un- 

 fold but once and endure only for a few 

 hours. That is reason enough for its common name, 

 but there is quite another story woven about its generic 

 title. It seems that Linnaeus knew of three brothers, 

 Dutchmen, named Commelin, who were botanists. 

 Two of the brothers succeeded in publishing the re- 

 sults of their labours, but the third brother was a 

 worthless sort of a chap, and did not pan out so well. 

 The Day-flower, having two large, beautifully devel- 

 oped petals, and one small, insignificant, colourless 

 one, suggested the application of the Hollanders' name, 

 to whom it was dedicated by the great naturalist. 

 The flower is a singular one. The two conspicuous 

 petals are of an exceedingly fine texture and their 

 colour is of the choicest shade of blue — an impres- 

 sive blue, that one will always remember as being 

 distinctly apart from the general run of floral blues. 

 They do not dry and wither up, as do most petals, 

 but deliberately shrink into a most hopeless, miser- 

 able, sticky pulp. The blossom has two large, showy, 

 rounded blue petals that are erect and flaring, earlike, 

 from between three unequal sepals. A third petal, 

 colourless and inconspicuous, forms a very small 

 tongue or lip. Its three perfect stamens are tipped 



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