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Commelinaceae Habit: Annual, perennial herb, generally glabrous. Stem: prostrate to erect or climbing; nodes often rooting. Leaf: alternate, entire, simple, linear to ovate, closed basal sheath or lower leaf clasping stem. Inflorescence: cyme, umbel-like or not, terminal or terminal and axillary, subtended by 1--2 bracts [not]. Flower: generally bisexual, bilateral or radial, generally insect-pollinated; sepals 3, generally green; petals 3, blue, white, rose, purple, or pale violet, generally ephemeral; stamens 6 (3 sterile or not), filaments generally slender, often hairy; ovary superior, chambers 3, style 1. Fruit: generally capsule. Seed: 1--few per chamber. Genera In Family: 40 genera, +- 630 species: especially tropics, subtropics some cultivated as ornamental. Jepson eFlora Author: Robert E. Preston & Elizabeth McClintock Reference: Faden 2000 FNANM 22:170--197 Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti. Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Key to Commelinaceae Previous taxon: Kniphofia uvaria Next taxon: Commelina |