COMMELI'NA TUBERO'SA. 
TUBEROUS-ROOTED COMMELIN A. 
Class. Order. 
TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
COM ME LINE A!. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Cultivated 
Mexico. 
1 foot. 
June, Aug. 
Perennial. 
in 1732. 
No. 257. 
This generic name was established by Plumier, in 
honour of the Dutch botanists, named Commelin. The 
specific name, tuberosa, alludes to its tuberous roots, 
which resemble those of the ranunculus. 
The Commelina tuberosa is, strictly, a stove plant ; 
and, at first sight, it may appear to be out of place 
amongst our hardy subjects of the open parterre. It 
is, however, well suited to common culture, and its 
beauty claims our admiration. 
The treatment suitable to it is similar to that of 
the Dahlia, merely requiring that its roots be taken 
up in the autumn, before they have sustained any 
injury from frost, and deposited in a bed or box of 
sand, in a dry cellar, safe from the severity of winter. 
In April, they may be planted in the borders, 
where they are intended to flower ; or if they be put 
into pots, two or three weeks earlier, and given the 
advantage of a hotbed or greenhouse, till the begin- 
ning of May, they may then be turned into the open 
ground. If seed be sown in March, and forwarded 
by a little artificial heat, the young plants may be 
put out in June, and they will flower very brilliantly 
in the autumn. 
65 # Hort.Kew.2, v. 1, 124. 
