_Commelina virginica_
_Flowers_--Blue, 1 in. broad or less, irregular, grouped at end of stem,
and upheld by long leaf-like bracts. Calyx of 3 unequal sepals; 3
petals, 1 inconspicuous, 2 showy, rounded. Perfect stamens 3; the anther
of 1 incurved stamen largest; 3 insignificant and sterile stamens; 1
pistil. _Stem:_ Fleshy, smooth, branched, mucilaginous. _Leaves:_
Lance-shaped, 3 to 5 in. long, sheathing the stem at base; upper leaves
in a spathe-like bract folding like a hood about flowers. _Fruit:_ A
3-celled capsule, 1 seed in each cell.
_Preferred Habitat_--Moist, shady ground.
_Flowering Season_--June-September.
_Distribution_--“Southern New York to Illinois and Michigan, Nebraska,
Texas, and through tropical America to Paraguay.”--Britton and Browne.
Delightful Linnaeus, who dearly loved his little joke, himself confesses
to have named the day-flowers after three brothers Commelyn, Dutch
botanists, because two of them--commemorated in the two showy blue
petals of the blossom--published their works; the third, lacking
application and ambition, amounted to nothing, like the inconspicuous
whitish third petal! Happily Kaspar Commelyn died in 1731, before the
joke was perpetrated in “Species Plantarum.” Soon after noon, the
day-flower’s petals roll up, never to open again.