THE COMMELINA. 
Commelina eaelestis. 
IKES and dislikes, as regards flowers 
and plants, are not very easy to 
explain, and we shall not now at- 
tempt to say why it is that many 
people dislike the Commelina and 
the Tradeseantia and the rest of 
the “spiderworts.” However, it 
may not be improper to remark 
that in proportion as taste is in- 
fluenced by knowledge it becomes 
universal. Large-minded and gene- 
rous-hearted people discover beau- 
ties and points of peculiar interest 
in all the works of nature, and we 
may reasonably expect to find the 
wise ones of this generation unen- 
cumbered with prejudices in their 
observation of the wonders that 
spring up around them. 
The Commelina takes its name from the Dutch hota- 
nists, J. and G. Commelin, whom it thus keeps in remem- 
brance, just as its near ally, the Tradescantia, is named 
after Jobn Tradescant, gardener to Charles I., a man who 
contributed in an eminent degree to advance the botany 
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