''Commelina tuberosa'' is an

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

in the dayflower family which is native to

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

but grown worldwide as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

. It is characterized by its purple-splotched

spathe In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or o ...

s with free margins, its bright blue petals of equal size, its tuberous roots, and its four to ten flowered lower cymes. In the wild, it is encountered in moist fields, open forests, or pine-oak forests. The species is sometimes considered to include the species '' Commelina coelestis'', ''

Commelina dianthifolia ''Commelina dianthifolia'', known as the birdbill dayflower, is a perennial herb native to mountains in the south-western United States (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas) and northern Mexico. Petals are blue while sepals are green. The inflor ...

'', and '' Commelina elliptica'', such as in the ''

Flora Mesoamericana ''Flora Mesoamericana'' is a comprehensive catalog (a flora) of southern Mexican and Central American plants, written in Spanish. The first volume was published in 1994. It is a collaboration between the Missouri Botanical Garden, the National A ...

''. When these are treated as separate, they are often referred to as the "''Commelina tuberosa'' complex".

Horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

ly, the species are often treated as separate entities because of their differing habits and leaf shapes. In this sense, ''Commelina tuberosa'' is a low-growing plant with long narrow leaves. The Coelestis Group is a

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

group of ''Commelina tuberosa'' which is grown ornamentally. Growing to tall by broad, it flowers in summer and autumn. Being a warm

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

plant which dislikes temperatures below , in cooler areas it must be lifted and stored in the winter months. It prefers a sunny or partially shaded sheltered spot in the garden.

References

tuberosa Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Endemic flora of Mexico Garden plants {{Commelinales-stub