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Shrubby Dayflower
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Shrubby Dayflower
ative Photo: Dinesh Valke
Common name: Shrubby Dayflower, Shrubby Spiderwort
Botanical name: Commelina suffruticosa    Family: Commelinaceae (Dayflower family)
Synonyms: Spathodithyros suffruticosus, Commelina rugulosa, Commelina simsonii

Shrubby Dayflower is a perennial herb with erect or rising smooth stems, up to more than 35 cm. Leaf sheaths are hairy in a line on 1 side. Leaf stalk is up to 1 cm long. Leaf blade is lance-shaped to ovate-lanceolate, 8-13 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, hairless on both surfaces. Involucral bracts are borne opposite leaves, broadly heart-shaped, open, about 1.6 × 1.1 cm when folded, sparsely puberulent, tip blunt. Small white flowers are borne in 4-flowered clusters, carried on stalk about 8 mm long. Flower stalks are about 3 mm, twisted in fruit. Sepals are about 4 mm, membranous. Petals are white, about 4 mm. Capsule is nearly round, 3.8-5 mm. Shrubby Dayflower is found in the eastern parts of Himalayas, and also the Western Ghats.

Identification credit: Mayur Nandikar & Satish Pardeshi
Photographed at Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra.
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