''Commelina cyanea'', commonly known as scurvy weed, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

prostrate herb of the family

Commelinaceae Commelinaceae is a family of flowering plants. In less formal contexts, the group is referred to as the dayflower family or spiderwort family. It is one of five families in the order Commelinales and by far the largest of these with about 731 kno ...

native to moist

forests A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

s of eastern Australia,PlantNET, plant profile ''Commelina cyanea''
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Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

and Norfolk Island. The blue flowers appear over the warmer months and are

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

by bees and

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

Taxonomy

''Commelina cyanea'' was one of the many species initially described by the botanist Robert Brown in his 1810 work ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a flora of Australia written by botanist Robert Brown and published in 1810. Often referred to as ''Prodromus Flora Novae ...

'' and still bears its original name. The genus name ''Commelina'' was chosen based on the Asiatic dayflower.

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

picked the name in honour of the Dutch botanists

Jan Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

and Caspar Commelijn, using the two large showy petals of ''

Commelina communis ''Commelina communis'', commonly known as the Asiatic dayflower, is an herbaceous annual plant in the dayflower family. It gets its name because the blooms last for only one day. It is native throughout much of East Asia and northern parts o ...

'' to symbolise them. The specific name is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

adjective ''cyaneus'', meaning "blue". As well as scurvy weed, alternative common names include (native) wandering Jew, forget-me-not, and creeping Christian.

Description

''Commelina cyanea'' is a trailing herbaceous perennial plant, whose stems grow along the ground. It readily roots at the nodes when they come into contact with the soil. They die off in winter. The leaves are ovate to narrow-ovate, and measure long by wide. The flowers can occur at any time from spring to autumn. They are deep blue and about in diameter, followed by a capsule bearing 2-5 2–3 mm long seeds.

Distribution and habitat

The species range is across eastern

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, from Narooma northwards, up into

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. It also occurs on Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It grows in wetter shaded areas in forest habitats.

Ecology

''Commelina cyanea'' is pollinated by a variety of native bees such as '' Nomia aurantifer'', '' Amegilla pulchra'', halictid and

colletid The Colletidae are a family of bees, and are often referred to collectively as plasterer bees or polyester bees, due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry int ...

bees, and syrphid flies (genus '' Syritta''). Wallabies and rabbits eat the vegetation. Vegetation is also possibly dispersed by water.

Uses

The leaves were used by early non-indigenous colonists to alleviate

scurvy Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...

, and hence its common name. Attractive in flower, ''Commelina cyanea'' adapts readily to cultivation and can be grown as a groundcover or in hanging baskets. It is easily propagated from cuttings. It resembles the introduced weed wandering Jew (''

Tradescantia fluminensis ''Tradescantia fluminensis'' is a species of spiderwort native to South America. It is one of several plants known by the common name wandering Jew, but now also commonly called wandering trad. It is also known as small-leaf spiderwort, river sp ...

''), but the latter has white flowers and a segmented stem as well as a weak root system. It also lacks the hairy leaf sheathes of ''C. cyanea''. However, ''C. cyanea'' can itself be weedy in gardens at times.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5152270 Cyanea Bushfood Commelinales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)