COMMELYNACE^. (SPlDEliWORT FAMILY.; 356 



1. SMI LAX, Tourn. (iui.i.N Biulu. 



Characters of the order: flowers in uinhels. 



1. S. rotundifolia, L. Stem armeil with scattered pricklen, m well m 

 the terete braiKlics : hrauehlets more or less 4-aiiguhir : leaves ovate or rouixl- 

 ovate, slightly heart-shaped, abruptly short-poiuted : berriea blue-blat-k, with 

 a bloom. — Colorado aud eastward. 



Order 81. COItll^IELYIVACEiE. (Spideuwort Family.) 



Herbs, with fibrous or soinctiines tliickciunl roots, j< tinted and <.ft«'n 

 branchiag leafy stems, and chiefly perfect and 6-androuy, often irrei;iilar 

 flowers, with the perianth free from the 2 to ;3-celled ovary, and having 

 a distinct calyx aud corolla, of S persistent sepals and as many <*phe- 

 mcral or deciduous (in ours blue) petals. Style one, stijEjma undivided. 

 Pod 3 to several-seeded. — Leaves ovate, lanceolate or linear, paralh-l- 

 veined, flat, sheathed at the base; the uppermost often forming a kind 

 of spathe. 



1. Commelyna. Flowers irregular. Three stamens fertile and three sterile and smaller : 



tilaiiieiits naked. 



2. Tradeseantia. Flowers regular. Stamens all fertile : filaments bearded. 



1. COMMELYNA, Dill. D.^y-Flower. 



Sepals somewhat colored, unequal; the 2 lateral partly united by their 

 contiguous margins. Two lateral petals rounded, on long claws, the odd 

 one smaller. Sterile stamens with imperfect cross-shaped antjiers — Stems 

 branching, often procumbent and rooting at the joints: floral leaf heart- 

 shaped and clasping, folded together or hooded, forming a spathe enclosing 

 the flowers, which expand for a single morning and are recurved on their 

 pedicels before and afterwards. 



1. G. Vii'ginica, L. Stems slender, erect, or reclineij and rooting towards 

 the base: leaves oblong- or linear-lanceolate: spathcs {ledunclotl, condu'dioatc, 

 round-heart-shaped when expanded, in fruit somewhat bood-hke. — E.Colo- 

 rado aud eastward to New York. 



2. TRADESCANTIA, L. SniuRwonT. 



Sepals herbaceous. Petals all alike, ovate, se.«?silo. — Stems mostly npright. 

 nearly simple, leafy : leaves keeled: flowers ej)hemeral, in umbellcil clu.sion*. 

 terminal (in ours) : floral leaves nearly like the others. 



1. T. Virginica, L. Leaves lance linear, elongated, tapering from tho 

 sheathing base to the point, ciliato : umbels sessile, clustered, u.>^ually involu- 

 crate by 2 leaves, many-flowered. — From Now Mexico northward and cast 

 ward across the continent. 



