Botanical name: Commelina benghalensis    Family: Commelinaceae (Dayflower family)
Synonyms: Commelina canescens, Commelina cucullata, Commelina hirsuta

Bengal Dayflower is a diffuse herb, rooting at lower nodes, rootstock with self-pollinating flowers. Leaves are 3-5 x 2-3.5 cm, ovate or elliptic-ovate, base rounded or almost flat, tip blunt or pointed, velvet-hairy, margin frilly, stalk up to 8 mm long, sheath up to 1.5 cm long, tip with rusty hairs. Spathe is about 1.5 cm across, funnel-shaped, flat at apex, velvet-hairy. Sepals are nearly equal, about 2.5 mm long, outer ones linear, inner ones orbicular. Petals are blue, larger ones about 4 x 4.5 mm, broadly ovate. Stamens are 3, staminodes 2, ovary up to 1mm long. Capsule is up to 5 mm long, ellipsoid, 3-celled. Seeds are 5, pitted. Bengal Dayflower is a wide-ranging plant, being native to tropical and subtropical Asia and Africa, an area otherwise known as the paleotropics.

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The flower labeled Bengal Dayflower is ...