Plantae > Tracheophyta > Liliopsida > Commelinales > Commelinaceae > Commelina > Commelina ensifolia

Commelina ensifolia

Synonyms: Commelina ensifolia var. pubescens; Commelina lunata; Commelina undulata var. setosa

Wikipedia Abstract

Commelina ensifolia, commonly known as scurvy weed, scurvy grass or wandering Jew, is an annual herb native to Australia, India, and Sri Lanka. The species grows as a prostrate herb, producing roots from the stem at the nodes. Flowers are bright blue with three petals, however one petal is much smaller than the others, often producing an appearance of two petals. The species prefers moist soils, but has a broad natural range, extending from coastal monsoon forest to the arid central deserts where it grows as an ephemeral following favourable rains.The species has been eaten as a green vegetable by Aboriginals. European settlers also ate the plant to prevent scurvy, giving rise the common name of scurvy grass.
View Wikipedia Record: Commelina ensifolia

Attributes

Structure [1]  Herb

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Kakadu National Park II 4744348 Northern Territory, Australia

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0