Commelina forskaolii Vahl

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Photo: Bart Wursten
By rd from Shashe Wilderness Camp to the National Parks office

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Synonyms:
Common names:	Blue wandering-jew (English) Goche (Shona) Goshe (Shona) Nkwasia (Tonga: Zimbabwe)
Frequency:
Status:	Native
Description:	Scrambling annual herb with long trailing stems, rooting at the nodes and short sub-erect branches. Subterranean fleshy stolons often bear reduced, self-fertilising flowers. Leaves alternate, linear-oblong, up to c. 7 cm long, often pale greyish-green, folded along the midrib, hairless or finely velvety; margin wavy. Flowers in 1-2 terminal or leaf-opposed spathes, short-lived, opening in succession. Petals blue; lateral stamens with filaments more or less winged. Note: the subterranean or cleistogamous flowers apparently form a drought-survival development. In times of drought the above-ground parts are poorly developed while the underground stolons will thrive and produce much fertile seed. In good rainy seasons or well watered situations the reverse has been recorded. (Maheshwari & Baldev in Phytomorphology 8, p 284-285, 1958).
Notes:
Derivation of specific name:
Habitat:	In sandy soils in dry scrub and woodland.
Altitude range: (metres)
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution:	Widespread in Africa, Socotra, Madagascar and India.
Zimbabwe distribution:	N,W,S
Growth form:
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects (whose larvae eat this species):
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Content last updated:	Sunday 11 May 2008
Literature:	Pickering, H. & Roe, E. (2009). Wild Flowers of the Victoria Falls Area Helen Pickering, London Page 51. (Includes a picture).

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Other sources of information about Commelina forskaolii:

African Plant Database: Commelina forskaolii
Biodiversity Explorer (Biodiversity of southern Africa): Commelina forskaolii
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Commelina forskaolii
ePIC (electronic Plant Information Center): Commelina forskaolii
Flora Zambesiaca web site: Commelina forskaolii
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
GRIN (Germplasm Resources Information Network) taxonomy for plants report for Commelina forskaolii
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Commelina forskaolii
JSTOR Plant Science: Commelina forskaolii
Kew Herbarium catalogue: Commelina forskaolii
Kew Monocotyledon checklist: Commelina forskaolii
Tropicos: Commelina forskaolii
West African Plants database: Commelina forskaolii