Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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Commelina diffusa
None
Commelinaceae
Forest, woodland, grassy areas, gardens, disturbed sites, and stream banks. Coast, ranges, and eastern edge of the tablelands. Not common.
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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