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The Book Of Wild Flowers: WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY ARUM FAMILY SPIDERWORT FAMILY PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY LILY FAMILY AMARYLLIS FAMILY IRIS FAMILY ORCHIDS FAMILY BUCKWHEAT FAMILY POKEWEED FAMILY PINK FAMILY PURSLANE FAMILY WATER-LILY FAMILY CROWFOOT FAMILY BARBERRY FAMILY MORE ARTICLES ABOUT WILDFLOWERS |
( Originally Published 1922 ) Virginia, or Common Day-flower Commelina virginica Flowers—Blue, 1 in. broad or less, irregular, grouped at end of stem, and upheld by long leaf-like bracts. Calyx of 3 unequal sepals; 3 petals, 1 inconspicuous, 2 showy, rounded. Perfect stamens 3; the anther of 1 incurved stamen largest; 3 insignificant and sterile stamens; 1 pistil. Stem: Fleshy, smooth, branched, mucilaginous. Leaves: Lance-shaped, 3 to 5 in. long, sheathing the stem at base; upper leaves in a spathe-like bract folding like a hood about flowers. Fruit: A 3-celled capsule, 1 seed in each cell. Preferred Habitat—Moist, shady ground. Flowering Season—June—September. Distribution—"Southern New York to Illinois and Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, and through tropical America to Paraguay."—Britton and Browne. Delightful Linnaeus, who dearly loved his little joke, himself confesses to have named the day-flowers after three brothers Commelyn, Dutch botanists, because two of them—commemorated in the two showy blue petals of the blossom—published their works; the third, lacking application and ambition, amounted to nothing, like the inconspicuous whitish third petal! Happily Kaspar Commelyn died in 1731, before the joke was perpetrated in "Species Plantarum." Soon after noon, the day-flower's petals roll up, never to open again. |
