Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Commelina diffusa
Common name
None
Family
Commelinaceae
Where found
Forest, woodland, grassy areas, gardens, disturbed sites, and stream banks. Coast, ranges, and eastern edge of the tablelands. Not common.
Notes
Fleshy annual herb to 0.75 m tall, sprawling, rooting at the nodes. Stems hairless to rough. Leaves alternating along the stems, about 2-3.5 cm long, 7-9 mm wide, surfaces hairless or bristly, tips pointed, base with a sheath. Flowers with 3 pale to bright blue 'petals', the upper two 'petals' each 4.2-6 mm long, the lower 'petal' often much smaller. Usually 3 stamens producing pollen and 2-3 stamens not producing pollen. Flower clusters subtended by green spathes 5-40 mm long. Lower cluster with 2-4 bisexual flowers, upper cluster with 1 to several male flowers. Flowers spring-autumn.
Description based on that in Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/commelina_diffusa.htm (accessed 30 April 2021)
and on the Wikipedia description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commelina_diffusa (accessed 30 April 2021)
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