Nearctica - Eastern Wildflowers - Commelinaceae - Slender Dayflower (Commelina erecta)

Slender Dayflower

(Commelina erecta)

Color Photograph: Southern wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, South National Technical Center.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Commelina communis

The Asiatic Dayflower shares a small white, lowere petal with the Slender Dayflower. However Asiatic Dayflower is a reclining plant, rooting from the stem nodes.

Commelina virginica

Virginia Dayflower has a lower petal of the same blue color as the top two petals.

Slender Dayflower (Commelina erecta)

Identification: Plant erect not reclining. Flowers with two large, blue dorsal banners and a small, white, single lobed lower petal. Stamens tipped with yellow and pistils curled. Leaves narrow, grasslike, and wrapping around the stem. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Southern New York southward to Florida and Texas and into tropical America. Also occurs in the Plains States and parts of the Rocky Mountain region.

Habitat: Slender Dayflower is found in moist habitats and pine forest.

Flowering period: July to October.

Slender Dayflower (Commelina erecta)

Similar Species:

Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis)

Virginia Dayflower (Commelina virginica)

Similar Species