4 6 COMMELINACEAE— LILIACEAE 



Liliales Lily Order 



Commelinaceae — Spiderwort Family 

 Upright or trailing herbs with fleshy leaves of moderate thickness; mucilaginous sap; sepals 3 

 or 0, petals 3, stamens 3 or 6, pistil 1, ovary 2-3-celled; flower syncarpous, apopetalous or sympetal- 

 ous, hypogynous, regular or irregular; sepals not petal-like, petals usually withering in one day. 



1. Flowers regular; stamens 6 



a. Petals separate Tradescantia 



b. Base of petals united to form a tube Zebrina 



2. Flowers irregular ; fertile stamens 3 Commelina 



Tradescantia — Spiderwort, Wandering Jew 



(Named for Tradescant, an English gardener) 



1. Native species with linear leaves; flowers chiefly in early summer 



a. Sepals and pedicels smooth T. reflexa 



b. Sepals glandular pubescent 



(1) Leaves and bracts 5-10 mm. wide T. occidentals 



(2) Leaves and bracts 1-2 cm. wide T. bractedta 



2. Cultivated species with ovate or lanceolate leaves 



a. Creeping plant, -rooting at the joints ; leaves green or white striped ; 



flowers white T. flumincnsis 



b. Plant half prostrate, not widely creeping; flowers rose-colored T. micrdntha 



Zebrina — Wandering Jew 



(From zebra, referring to the striped leaves) 

 Creeping plant with variegated leaves, purple beneath Z. pcndula 



Commelina — Day Flower 



(Named for the brothers Commelin, Dutch botanists) 

 Branching annual weed with bright blue flowers C. communis 



Liliaceae — Lily Family 



Herbaceous plants with scapes or leafy stems growing from bulbs, corms or rootstocks, rarely 



shrubby; sepals 3, petals 3, stamens 6, pistil 1, ovary 3-celled, superior; flowers syncarpous, 



apopetalous or sympetalous, hypogynous, regular or nearly so ; sepals usually petal-like. 



1. Plants with evident above-ground stems bearing the leaves, or leaf-like 



twigs 



a. Plants with true leaves 



(1) Leaves thick and fleshy; flowers small, numerous, in elongated 



leafless spikes or racemes 



(a) Perianth tubular, with scarcely any limb 



(b) Tips of petals and sepals free, spreading, irregular 



(2) Leaves not thick and fleshy; flowers large, solitary or in loose 



leafy clusters 



(a) Flower solitary; stem bearing 1-2 leaves 



(b) Flowers usually several ; stem bearing many leaves 



b. True leaves reduced to minute scales, foliage consisting of needle-like 



or leaf-like twigs in the axils of the scale-leaves 



(1) Herbaceous; flowers and fruit borne on ordinary twigs 



(2) Shrubby ; flowers and fruit borne on the leaf-like twigs 



2. Stemless plants 

 a. Flowers borne on erect leafless scapes, usually in clusters 



(1) Leaves ovate to lanceolate 



(a) Flowers trumpet-shaped, each lasting one day Funkia 



(b) Flowers bell-shaped, persistent Convallaria 



(2) Leaves linear, each flower lasting several days 

 (a) Plants with thickened roots and no true bulb 



x. Flowers in umbels, blue or white Agapanthus 



