Asiatic dayflower
Commelina communis
Its fleeting blue petals dissolve into a sticky fluid that can self-pollinate the flower if insect visitors fail to arrive.
- Scientific name
- Commelina communis
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Liliopsida › Commelinales › Commelinaceae › Commelina
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- increasing
- Biome
- urban
- Habitat
- Disturbed soils, garden borders, roadsides, and moist fields
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis)
- Range
- East Asia, North America, Europe
- Size
- Stems up to 1 meter long, flowers 1.5 cm wide
- Lifespan
- 1 year (annual)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Herbicides and intense agricultural cultivation
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless and safe to touch. This common wildflower can be closely observed or gently weeded from gardens. Avoid consuming plants from areas treated with herbicides.
Commelina communis , commonly known as the Asiatic dayflower , is an herbaceous annual plant in the dayflower family. It gets its name because the blooms last for only one day. It is native throughout much of East Asia and northern parts of Southeast Asia. In China, the plant is known as yazhicao (simplified Chinese: 鸭跖草; traditional Chinese: 鴨跖草; pinyin: yāzhīcǎo ), roughly translating to "duckfoot herb", while in Japan it is known as tsuyukusa (露草, tsuyukusa ), meaning "dew...
Photo: NotAnonymous, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/b68a0168-d1b4-402a-a4e9-7c5024fd1e2a.md