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Commelina fluviatilis
Riverine dayflower is a semi-aquatic herb from the spiderwort family that grows in marshes, swamps and river or lake edges, sometimes in over half a metre of water. It needs constantly moist roots or shallow standing water to thrive.
Commelina fluviatilis is an herbaceous plant in the dayflower family found primarily in Central Africa. It is known from Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and the Caprivi Strip region of Namibia.
It is one of the most distinctive members of its genus because of its semi-aquatic habitat preference, its floating stems, its long and narrow leaves that are folded in on themselves, and its many-flowered lower cincinnus, just to name a few characters. The species has tuberous roots set in the soil which allow it to withstand periods of severe drought despite its preference for water. It can grow in over a half meter of water, typically in marshes, swamps, rivers, or lake shores. Like many members of the genus, it cannot self-pollinate, and furthermore has a tendency for its ovules to abort, leading to fruits with few seeds.
African Yellow Dayflower · Jio · Asiatic dayflower · Commelina ensifolia · Whitemouth dayflower · Malagasy Dayflower · Commelina
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Commelina fluviatilis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
