Code
COMFO
Growth form
Broad leaf
Biological cycle
Annual
Habitat
Terretrial
COMFO
Growth form
Broad leaf
Biological cycle
Annual
Habitat
Terretrial
🗒 Synonyms
| synonym | Commelina falcata Hassk. |
🗒 Common Names
| No Data |
📚 Overview
Description
Global description
Commelina forskaolii has a very prostrate habit, leaves simple, alternate, coriaceous and thick, strongly wavy at the edges and dark green, with a sheath closed at the base but without a pseudo-petiole and do not carry multicellular red hairs. The flowers are bright blue in short triangular spathe, connate at base. The fruit contains only one seed.
Cotyledon
The cotyledon is not apparent because it remains in the seed.
First leaf
The first leaf is elliptical, 2 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. It is hairless and has parallel veins.
General habit
The port of Commelina forskaolii is mainly prostrate. Only the floriferous ends of the branches are upright and seldom exceed 20 cm in height. The plant develops into a stain up to 80 cm in diameter. It is occasionally provided with subterranean fruiting stems.
Underground system
The roots, 2 mm in diameter, are fasciculate at the base of the plant. They also appear at the nodes placed on the ground.
Stem
The aerial stems are cylindrical, crassulescent and glabrous. The underground stems are white, finer and only fruiting.
Leaf
The leaves are alternate, elliptical to lanceolate. They measure up to 7 cm long and 1 to 4 cm wide. The top is in wide or slightly pointed corner. The blade gradually fades to the sheath, without a pseudo-petiole. The margin is whole and strongly corrugated. Both faces are smooth and have 3 to 5 parallel veins. The leaves are thick and dark green.
Inflorescence
The aerial flowers are grouped by 2 or 3 in a leafy spathe, triangular, connate at base. This spathe, 8 to 13 mm long, is briefly pedunculated and has some multicellular hairs only at the base. The first flower is long pedicelled while the others just emerge from the spathe.
Flower
The flowers have three petals, the two lateral, rounded at the top and filiform at the base, are very developed; the third is very small. They are bright blue. The underground flowers, white in color, remain locked in their spathe.
Fruit
The fruit is a capsule with three boxes. Only the ventral box is fertile and contains a single seed.
Seed
The ellipsoidal seed is 2 mm long. Its integument is smooth. It remains adherent to the wall of the capsule.
Commelina forskaolii has a very prostrate habit, leaves simple, alternate, coriaceous and thick, strongly wavy at the edges and dark green, with a sheath closed at the base but without a pseudo-petiole and do not carry multicellular red hairs. The flowers are bright blue in short triangular spathe, connate at base. The fruit contains only one seed.
Cotyledon
The cotyledon is not apparent because it remains in the seed.
First leaf
The first leaf is elliptical, 2 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. It is hairless and has parallel veins.
General habit
The port of Commelina forskaolii is mainly prostrate. Only the floriferous ends of the branches are upright and seldom exceed 20 cm in height. The plant develops into a stain up to 80 cm in diameter. It is occasionally provided with subterranean fruiting stems.
Underground system
The roots, 2 mm in diameter, are fasciculate at the base of the plant. They also appear at the nodes placed on the ground.
Stem
The aerial stems are cylindrical, crassulescent and glabrous. The underground stems are white, finer and only fruiting.
Leaf
The leaves are alternate, elliptical to lanceolate. They measure up to 7 cm long and 1 to 4 cm wide. The top is in wide or slightly pointed corner. The blade gradually fades to the sheath, without a pseudo-petiole. The margin is whole and strongly corrugated. Both faces are smooth and have 3 to 5 parallel veins. The leaves are thick and dark green.
Inflorescence
The aerial flowers are grouped by 2 or 3 in a leafy spathe, triangular, connate at base. This spathe, 8 to 13 mm long, is briefly pedunculated and has some multicellular hairs only at the base. The first flower is long pedicelled while the others just emerge from the spathe.
Flower
The flowers have three petals, the two lateral, rounded at the top and filiform at the base, are very developed; the third is very small. They are bright blue. The underground flowers, white in color, remain locked in their spathe.
Fruit
The fruit is a capsule with three boxes. Only the ventral box is fertile and contains a single seed.
Seed
The ellipsoidal seed is 2 mm long. Its integument is smooth. It remains adherent to the wall of the capsule.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
📚 Nomenclature and Classification
No Data
📚 Natural History
Life Cycle
Northern Cameroon: The development cycle of Commelina forskaolii is comparable to that of C. benghalensis. Germination begins in May after the first rains. It is particularly favored by tillage operations (plowing, weeding, hilling). In the absence of new cultural practices, the germination phase stops after 4 weeks. In case of repeated tillage, it can last until September. The first blooms occur in June, with an optimum in July-August. Seed production and dissemination take place from August to the end of October, until the plants dry after the last rains. In weeds mechanically weeded (weeding, hilling), flowering and fruiting are delayed by 4 to 8 weeks.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
Cyclicity
Commelina forskaolii is an annual species, rarely perennial when moisture conditions permit. Its sexual reproduction is done by seeds. However, during the development period, vegetative propagation can be intense, by rooting the nodes and by cuttings of fragments of stems cut during cultural operations.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
Look Alikes
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Commelina forskaolii can be confused with C. benghalensis. It is distinguished by a very prostrate port, leathery and thick leaves, strongly wavy at the edges and dark green. The leaves do not have a pseudo-petiole and do not carry multicellular red hairs. The back of the floral spathe is connate. The flowers are bright blue. The fruit contains only one seed.
| Blue flowers | spathe (*) open | Glabrous sheath | Commelina diffusa | |
| Pubescent sheath | Commelina diffusa subsp. scandens | |||
| spathe (*) fused at the base | Sheath of leaves without oreillette | Red hairs on the sheath, stalked leaf, wavy and more than 20 mm wide | Commelina benghalensis | |
| No red hairs on the sheath, sessile leaf, leaf wavy and narrow, less than 20 mm wide | Commelina forskaolii | |||
| sheath of leaves elongated by two oreillettes | Leaf very elongated, white hairs on the margin and auricles |
Commelina erecta | ||
| Leaf as large as longue, reddish stem | Commelina lagosensis | |||
| fYellow to pink flowers | spathe (*) fused at the base | Commelina nigritana | ||
| spathe (*) open | Leaves very narrow (4 mm) | Commelina subulata | ||
| Leaves lanceolate | Glabrous sheath | Commelina africana var. africana | ||
| Pubescente sheath | Commelina africana var. krebsiana | |||
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
Ecology
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Northern Cameroon: Commelina forskaolii likes suny places. It develops particularly in the Sudano-Sahelian regions whose annual rainfall is less than 1300 mm. It occurs either on very degraded soils (ferruginous degraded) with a very sandy surface horizon (more than 80% of sand), or on very clayey soils (vertisols, more than 50% of clay). In both types of soil, it takes the place of C. benghalensis. In better structured soils, but in the process of degradation, the two species can be associated. C. forskaolii occurs in traditional crops without inputs (fertilizers, herbicides) and mainly in old plots, rather than in intensive cultivation. After abandoning cultivation, it stays for a few years in young fallows.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
No Data
📚 Habitat and Distribution
General Habitat
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Worldwide distribution
Commelina forskaolii occurs in tropical Africa with the exception of forest areas. It is also found in Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula and India.
Commelina forskaolii occurs in tropical Africa with the exception of forest areas. It is also found in Madagascar, the Arabian Peninsula and India.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
No Data
📚 Occurrence
No Data
📚 Demography and Conservation
Risk Statement
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Local harmfulness
Northern Cameroon: Commelina forskaolii is globally present in 35% of plots, with generally a high abundance index. This species is considered a major regional weed, especially in the Sudano-Sahelian region.
Northern Cameroon: Commelina forskaolii is globally present in 35% of plots, with generally a high abundance index. This species is considered a major regional weed, especially in the Sudano-Sahelian region.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
No Data
📚 Uses and Management
📚 Information Listing
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
References
- Le Bourgeois, T. and H. Merlier (1995). Adventrop - Les adventices d'Afrique soudano-sahélienne. Montpellier, France, Cirad. 637p.
- Berhaut J., 1967. Flore du Sénégal. 2ème éd. Clairafrique éd., Dakar, Sénégal, 485p.
- Hutchinson J., Dalziel J. M., Keay R. W. J. & Hepper F. N., 1968. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Vol. III part. 1. 2ème éd. The Whitefriars Press ed., London & Tonbridge, 276p.
- Merlier H. & Montégut J., 1982. Adventices tropicales. ORSTOM-GERDAT-ENSH éd., Montpellier, France, 490p.
- Le Bourgeois Th., 1993. Les mauvaises herbes dans la rotation cotonnière au Nord-Cameroun (Afrique) - Amplitude d'habitat et degré d'infestation - Cycle de développement. Thèse USTL Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 241p.
Information Listing > References
- Le Bourgeois, T. and H. Merlier (1995). Adventrop - Les adventices d'Afrique soudano-sahélienne. Montpellier, France, Cirad. 637p.
- Berhaut J., 1967. Flore du Sénégal. 2ème éd. Clairafrique éd., Dakar, Sénégal, 485p.
- Hutchinson J., Dalziel J. M., Keay R. W. J. & Hepper F. N., 1968. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Vol. III part. 1. 2ème éd. The Whitefriars Press ed., London & Tonbridge, 276p.
- Merlier H. & Montégut J., 1982. Adventices tropicales. ORSTOM-GERDAT-ENSH éd., Montpellier, France, 490p.
- Le Bourgeois Th., 1993. Les mauvaises herbes dans la rotation cotonnière au Nord-Cameroun (Afrique) - Amplitude d'habitat et degré d'infestation - Cycle de développement. Thèse USTL Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 241p.
Images
Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT Commelina forskaolii: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Commelina%2520forskaolii
Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT Commelina forskalaei: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Commelina%2520forskalaei
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
🐾 Taxonomy
| Root | Root |
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
| Class | Liliopsida |
| Order | Commelinales |
| Family | Commelinaceae |
| Genus | Commelina |
| Species | Commelina forskaolii Vahl |
📊 Temporal Distribution
📷 Related Observations
