Americanized Spreading Dayflower Gardens Away From Moist Croplands

Summary: Americanized spreading dayflower gardens resolve ground reflection and surface runoff problems but run rampant in damp, shady croplands and nurseries.

spreading dayflower (Commelina diffusa) with katydid (upper right); Bird Rookery Swamp Trail, Collier County, southwestern Florida; Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, 13:04: Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Americanized spreading dayflower gardens absorb surface runoff, add ground cover to barren, polluted, waterlogged soils, adjust structure and texture on compacted sites and ameliorate ground reflection loss but quickly assume lasting dominance.

The annual or short-lived perennial in the Commelinaceae family of herbaceous spiderworts becomes particularly troublesome in banana, bean, citrus, coffee, corn, cotton, rice and sugarcane fields. The flowering herb native to Mediterranean Africa, Asia and Europe and related, Asian common dayflower (Commelina communis) challenge damp, shady croplands, landscapes, nurseries and soybean fields. No North American government designates nonnative common and spreading dayflowers, white-flowered Wandering Jew and oyster plant weeds for decreasing crop yields, environmental balance or species diversity.

Asian wart-removing herb and Benghali dayflower respectively endure sanctions in Washington and in Alabama, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont and Mexico.

Spreading dayflower, commonly named climbing dayflower, wandering Jew and water grass, furnishes seedlings with oval to lance-shaped cotyledons whose embryonic foliar bases form sheaths with stems.

First leaf stages get lance-shaped foliage, as do mature alternate-arranged, parallel-veined, 0.39- to 5.51-inch- (1- to 14-centimeter-) long, 0.19- to 1.29-inch- (0.5- to 3.3-centimeter-) wide leaves. Alternate-arranged, lance-shaped Benghali dayflower, common dayflower and white-flowered wandering Jew have oval-leafed variants while alternate-arranged, linear-leafed oyster plant and wart-removing herb have strap- and lance-shaped options. Leaves incline from creeping, smooth, sparse-haired stems, each of whose swollen leaf-to-stem attachments called nodes induces rooting new plants when it is in contact with soil.

Americanized spreading dayflower gardens juggle annual seeding and stem-rooting as reproduction means for Benghali, common and spreading dayflower, oyster plant, wart-removing herb and white-flowered wandering Jew.

Spreading dayflower, scientifically named Commelina diffusa ([Caspar and Jan] Commelin's spreading [plant]), keeps paired inflorescences called cymes, with oldest flowers tiptop, blooming from May to November.

Sickle-shaped, 0.32- to 1.58-inch- (8- to 40-millimeter-) long, 0.16- to 0.55-inch- (4- to 14-millimeter-) wide spathes lounge atop 0.19- to 0.79-inch- (5- to 20-millimeter-) long stalks. The leaflike, protective structures opposite spreading dayflower leaves each maintain one cyme with two to four perfect flowers and one with one male flower or more. Carolina dayflower-like, perfect, regular flowers each need one pistil, one small and two big blue petals, three green sepals, three fertile and three sterile bright-haired stamens.

Americanized spreading dayflower gardens overlap blue-blooming Benghal, Carolina (Commelina caroliniana) and common dayflowers, pink-, purple-, white-blossoming wart-removing herb and white-flowering oyster plant and white-flowered wandering Jew.

Broadly rounded to shallowly heart-shaped, leaflike, 0.79- to 1.18-inch- (2- to 3-centimeter-) long, 0.59- to 0.79-inch- (1.5- to 2-centimeter-) wide bracts protect each spreading dayflower bloom.

Stages of dry, explosive, fruiting, one- to four-seeded, 0.16- to 0.25-inch- (4- to 6.3-millimeter-) long capsules and of brown, ridged seeds queue up after flowering stages. The 0.08- to 0.12-inch- (2- to 2.8-millimeter-) long seeds require the top 0.39 inch (1 centimeter) of soil for germination and possibly three- to four-year viabilities. Benghal dayflower, common dayflower, oyster plant, white-flowered wandering Jew and wart-removing herb capsules respectively sprout five, four, two to three, six to 18 and six seeds.

Americanized spreading dayflower gardens, described by Dutch botanist Nicolaas Laurens Burman (Dec. 27, 1734-Sept. 11, 1793), thwart ground reflection and surface runoff away from irrigated crops.

spreading dayflower's flower, foliage and stem; Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, northeastern Kauai; Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 10:11:41; image #130320-3346: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

spreading dayflower (Commelina diffusa) with katydid (upper right); Bird Rookery Swamp Trail, Collier County, southwestern Florida; Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, 13:04: Judy Gallegher, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Climbing_Dayflower_-_Commelina_diffusa_and_Katydid,_Bird_Rookery_Swamp,_Collier_County,_Florida_-_31363178090.jpg

spreading dayflower's flower, foliage and stem; Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, northeastern Kauai; Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 10:11:41; image #130320-3346: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/24578398634/; Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 4.0 International, via Starr Environmental @ http://www.starrenvironmental.com/images/image/?q=24578398634

For further information:

"Commelina diffusa Burm. f." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/8300012

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

Burman, Nicolaas Laurens. 1768. "Commelina (diffusa)." Flora Indica: Cui Accedit Series Zoophytorum Indicorum, nec non Prodromus Florae Capensia: 18. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Cornelium Haek.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/39900407

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.