Africa Wild

Index to Flowers in the Order Commelinales

Family: Commelinaceae
Commelina africana Yellow Commelina viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3730#p170482
Commelina benghalensis Day Flower, Benghal Wandering Jew viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3730&p=170480#p170484
Commelina eckloniana Ecklon's Blue Commelina viewtopic.php?f=248&t=3730&p=170480#p170572
Cyanotis speciosa Doll's Powderpuff viewtopic.php?p=526820#p526820

Yellow Commelima Commelina africana
Order: Commelinales. Family: Commelinaceae



Description
A spreading, perennial herb up to 0.5m high. The rootstock is hard and woody. Leaves are variable, oblong to linear, flat or folded. The flower varies in size with yellow petals.

Distribution
Very common in southern Africa.

Habitat
A spreading herb that flourishes in sandy soil in rocky areas where it spreads rapidly.

Links: Jo Onderstall: Sappi Wildflower Guide

Day Flower, Benghal Wandering Jew, Benghal Dayflower, Tropical Spiderwort Commelina benghalensis
Order: Commelinales. Family: Commelinaceae



Description
Called "Day Flower" because the flowers hide away at night, unfurling again in the morning. Incredibly blue flowers borne in groups at the top of stout, lush green stems.

Distribution
A perennial herb native to tropical Asia and Africa. It is listed as one of the world's worst weeds, affecting 25 crops in 29 countries.

Habitat
Often found on disturbed sites, forest edges, road sides, agricultural sites, and home gardens.

Links: Jo Onderstall: Sappi Wildflower Guide

Ecklon's Blue Commelina Commelina eckloniana
Order Commelinales. Family: Commelinaceae

© leachy

© leachy
Kruger National Park

Description
Annual herb. A softly hairy sprawling plant. Leaves long or oval, narrow, pale grey-green. Only 1 spathe holds the flower, recurved and very hairy. Two large petals and a third insignificant small one below.
Flowers in summer.

Distribution
Not endemic to South Africa. Provincial distribution: Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West

Habitat
Lightly wooded grassland. Often in rocky areas.

Links: Jo Onderstall: Sappi Wild Flower Guide

Doll's Powderpuff Cyanotis speciosa
Order: Commelinales. Family: Commelinaceae

Nelspruit © Richprins


Description
A perennial herb up to 0.5m high. It grows from a swollen, often u-shaped rhizome with long slender roots.
Erect, hairy, with separate leafing shoots, flowering stems with up to 6 pseudo-axillary clusters of blue to mauve flowers among folded spathes, 1cm in diameter, with bearded stamen filaments, stamens embedded in dense blue hairs. The flowers are borne in fleshy leaf-like bracts and last only one morning. The flowers are bisexual (hermaphrodite).
Leaves mostly basal with long hairs beneath; sheaths purplish.

Distribution
From southern Tanzania to South Africa. Common in the eastern parts of South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape).

Habitat
A grassland species. In shallow soil often among rocks in woodland.

Links:
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/species ... _id=112930
https://www.theplantlibrary.co.za/plant ... s-speciosa
https://www.operationwildflower.org.za/ ... 2?Itemid=8