Common name: Whiskered Commelina • Hindi: काना Kana, Kankawa • Manipuri: ৱাঙদেন খোইবী Wangden khoibi • Marathi: केना Kena
Botanical name: Commelina benghalensis Family: Commelinaceae (dayflower family)
A trailing, weedy herb growing on sandy soils. Important fodder
plant that retains moisture long after collecting. Produces both aerial and
underground fruit. Resembles C. benghalensis but has much smaller, stiff
leaves. Is named whiskered commelina, due to spathe having
spreading hair. The plant creeps on the ground and forms underground shoots on
which cleistogamous flowers are produced. Cleistogamous, according to
Darwin, means having, beside the usual flowers, other minute, closed
flowers, without petals or with minute petals; -- said of
certain species of plants which possess flowers of two or
more kinds, the closed ones being so constituted as to insure
self-fertilization.
Identification credit: Nandan Kalbag & S. Thambidurai
| Photographed in
Garden of Five Senses, Delhi. |
|
