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Common Name: Dayflower
Scientific Name: Commelina communis
Family: Commelinaceae
Pierson Falls Road
Polk County, North Carolina
June 29, 2002
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The lower petal of these delicate flowers is white and greatly reduced, thus the corolla appears to be made up of only 2 petals. A flower lasts only a day or less, but other buds, within each green spathe (which is about 1/2 inch long and seen here just below the flower) continue to open for a week or more. A weed of low, moist, often disturbed areas or waste places at scattered localities in the state and much of the eastern U.S. May - frost. [Justice, William S. and Bell, C. Ritchie, Wild Flowers of North Carolina. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1968]
Prostrate or ascending glabrous annual with narrowly ovate entire leaves and flowers emerging, one at a time, from a folded bract. After pollination the developing seedpod is drawn back into the bract. Petals 3, 2 conspicuous blue ones, 1 small and inconspicuous white. [Batson, Wade T., Wild Flowers in the Carolinas, Everbest Printing Co. Ltd., Hong Kong, 1990]
Linnaeus named this flower for the Commelin brothers, who were botanists. Two of the brothers had works published, but a third brother died young with no publications to his credit. Dayflower, with two prominent petals and one smaller petal, reminded Linnaeus of the two well-known brothers and their one unknown brother. True to its name, the individual flowers of dayflower last only a day. May - October [Adams, Kevin and Casstevens, Marty, Wildflowers of the Southern Appalachians: How to Photograph and Identify Them. John F. Blair, Publisher, Winston-Salem, 1996]
Dayflower roots, boiled and served with a white sauce, make a tasty substitute for creamed potatoes. Also, the young leaves can be eaten in salads. May - October [Alderman, J. Anthony, Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1997]
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Alphabetical Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Family Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z
Genus Listings -- A B C D, E F G H I, J, K L M N, O P Q, R S T U, V W X, Y, Z