Commelina caroliniana
| Commelina caroliniana | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Specimen in Bangalore, India; this specimen is irregular as its upper cyme is exerted, whereas typically it is vestigial | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Commelinales |
| Family: | Commelinaceae |
| Genus: | Commelina |
| Species: | C. caroliniana |
| Binomial name | |
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Commelina caroliniana Walter |
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| Synonyms | |
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Commelina hasskarlii C.B.Clark |
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Commelina hasskarlii C.B.Clark
Commelina caroliniana, sometimes known as the Carolina dayflower, is an herbaceous plant in the dayflower family native to India and Bangladesh. Both the scientific name and the common name are misleading as the plant was described based on specimens found in the southeastern United States before it was known that the plant had been introduced from India. It was most likely introduced to South Carolina in the late 17th century along with rice seed from India. Its flowers emerge from summer to fall and rarely into the winter.
Commelina caroliniana was originally described by Thomas Walter in 1788 in his work Flora caroliniana. As soon as 1805, other authors began to treat the name as a synonym of Commelina communis, while others excluded it altogether. Some, such as G.H.E. Muhlenberg in 1818, did continue to recognise the species as distinct. In 1881, Charles Baron Clarke began to treat it as a synonym of Commelina diffusa, then known as Commelina nudiflora. In the 20th century its placement varied, with Albert Radford treating it as a doubtful species in his 1968 Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas, and Duncan and Kartesz continuing to consider it a synonym of C. diffusa in their 1981 Vascular Flora of Georgia.
Robert Faden published a paper in 1989 that reviewed the literature regarding the species. After studying Walter's original description and specimens, Faden determined that the species was in fact distinct from C. diffusa. Furthermore, while working on the Flora of Ceylon project, Faden noticed that C. caroliniana was identical to a species found in India, namely Commelina hasskarlii. This name had been given by Charles Baron Clarke in 1874, nearly a century after the description of C. caroliniana. Given that C. caroliniana was closely related to several other old world species of Commelina more than any other North American species, Faden determined that Commelina caroliniana must have been introduced and made Commelina hasskarlii a synonym of it.
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