Commelina is a pantropical genus of flowering annual and perennial herbs from the Commelinaceae family. Some flowering species are used in floriculture, in the middle lane – as garden or indoor plants .
- Family: commeline.
- Homeland: tropics and subtropics of both hemispheres.
- Rhizome: tuberous, or fibrous roots.
- Stem: fleshy, knotty.
- Leaves: alternate, sessile, entire.
- Fruit: thin-walled capsule.
- Reproductive ability: propagated by seeds, division of rhizomes.
- Illumination: light-requiring.
- Watering: regular, limited in winter.
- Content temperature: thermophilic.
- Flowering time: July-August or August-October
General information about commeline
The genus Kommelin includes about 200 species of ground cover or bushy herbs, sometimes vines, perennial, less often annual, with tuberous rhizomes or well-developed fibrous roots, succulent knotty stems, erect, climbing or creeping along the ground, and fleshy, often pubescent leaves oval-lanceolate or linear form. Many species are characterized by fibrous tuberous rhizomes, often used as food.
Commelin flower in the photo
Commeline flowers (see photo) are saucer-shaped, three-petal, have two large, brightly colored and one small, paler petal, collected in one-sided curls. One, two or more whorls are partially or completely wrapped in an opaque bract that forms in the axils of the leaves. The color is blue, in some varieties it is white or pink. The flowers are short-lived, bloom in the morning and wither in the evening, after which they do not dry out, but turn into a gelatinous mass.
The most famous species are Kommelina tuberous and common
Common commelina (C. Communis) is the only species in Russia, found in the Far East, where it came from East Asia, the birthplace of culture. Herbaceous annual with upright ascending, procumbent or creeping knotty branched stems and narrow sessile leaves up to 8 cm long. Flowers are bright blue, 15-25 cm long, bloom in the axils of the upper leaves. It reaches a height of 60-100 cm, grows well, quickly capturing new territories, and adapts to any environmental conditions. Quarantine weed as an alien crop has spread in Asia, Europe, North and South America. For its bright blue color, the flower is called “azure” or “blue-eyed”. The petals contain a persistent pigment used by the indigenous peoples of the Far East to dye their hides blue.
Kommelin tuberous, sky blue (C. tuberose, C. coelestis) , perennial native to Central and South America, cultivated as a garden plant. Its powerful erect bushes with fleshy pubescent stems grow up to 100 cm, oval-lanceolate leaves up to 7 cm long cover the stems. Bright blue flowers up to 3 cm in diameter bloom in August-September. Forms underground tubers, which are dug up in the middle lane for the winter. There are garden forms: white “Alba” and purple “Purpurea”. It is used as a ground cover crop, planted in pots, containers and hanging planters, where it is formed as an ampelous plant.
Growing commeline in the garden: planting and care
Tuberous commelin is cultivated in open ground, in the middle lane it is cultivated as an annual, sowing seeds annually, or tubers are dug up for the winter.
For a flower, choose a sunny or slightly shaded warm place with loose, well-drained, fertile soil. Depending on the method of growing commeline, planting and caring for it are somewhat different. In an annual culture, flowers are sown with seeds early, in early spring, since the period from germination to the appearance of buds is about four months. Seedlings are transferred to open ground upon the onset of stable heat, planted at intervals of 30-40 cm from each other
When planting tubers, they are pre-sprouted, placed in pots in April, and then, at the end of May, in a permanent place in the garden. Earlier germination of tubers is impractical due to lack of lighting, and planting them directly in the ground in May leads to a delay in flowering; in cold soil, sprouts will appear only after a month.
Care consists of regular loosening, watering and mineral dressings. If the tubers are left for the next year, they begin to prepare them for wintering in August, reducing watering and fertilizing. For storage, fleshy, thickened specimens are chosen, they are transferred to dry, non-freezing rooms or with a clod of earth they are transferred to pots, which are then placed in basements or at the balcony door in the rooms. Before planting, the rhizomes are divided so that each division has at least one live bud.