ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
Corolla sex-petala. Nectaria quinque, cruciata, filamentis propriis inserta.
Blossom, six-petalled. Nectaries five, cross-shaped, inserted on their proper filaments.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Commelina, corollis æqualibus, foliis sessilibus ovato-lanceolatis, subtus villosis et inde ciliatis, radice tuberosâ.
Commelina tuberosa. Willd. Sp. Pl. 1. 251.—Dill. Elth. t. 79.
Commelina, with equal flowers, sessile ovate-spear-shaped leaves, villose beneath and thence ciliated, and a tuberous root.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement, chives, and pointal.
2.A petal.
3.One of the nectaries.
4.A chive magnified.
5. The seed-bud and pointal, ummit magnified
The herbaceous genus Commelina is a very singular one; and many of its species are remarkable, not so much for the size, as for the structure and brilliancy of their flowers; which, according to the words of the generic character, ought to have six petals: but the present species appears to have but three petals, the three outer being entirely of the nature of a calyx; and effectually answering the purposes of one.