Commelina benghalensis
Encyclopedia
Commelina benghalensis, commonly known as the Benghal dayflower or tropical spiderwort, is a perennial herb native to tropical Asia
and Africa
. It has been widely introduced to areas outside its native range, including to the neotropics, Hawaii
, the West Indies and to both coasts of North America
. It flowers from spring into the fall and is often associated with disturbed soils.
In the United States
it has been placed on the Federal Noxious Weed List. It is considered a moderate weed
of rice
cultivation in Asia.
In China it is used as a medicinal herb that is said to have diuretic, febrifugal and anti-inflammatory effects, while in Pakistan
it is used to cure swellings of the skin, leprosy
and as a laxative.
and Africa
, an area otherwise known as the paleotropics. In China
it is commonly associated with wet locations. There it can be found from near sea level up to 2300 metres. It is present from the provinces
of Hebei
and Shandong
in the northeast, west to Sichuan
and in all provinces south to Hainan
, the southernmost province. It is also found in Taiwan
. In Japan
the plant is restricted to the southern portions of the country from the southern Kanto Region
westward and including the islands of Shikoku
and Kyūshū
. Although its roots and tubers are used as a food source, C. benghalensis is not cultivated in Ethiopia
, where it grows as a weed.
The plant has also been widely introduced beyond its range to the neotropics, the southeastern United States
, California
, Hawaii
, Cuba
, Jamaica
, Puerto Rico
, Martinique
, Montserrat
, Barbados
and St Vincent
. In Puerto Rico the plant is known from a single collection from Cayey. In the southeastern United States the plant was collected in the 1928, while it was first collected in Hawaii in 1909. In the southeastern states it is present in Florida
, Georgia
, Louisiana
and North Carolina
and spreading. It was added to the Federal Noxious Weed List in 1983, and by 2003 was considered the most serious pest of Georgia's cotton
crop due to widely used herbicides such as glyphosate having little effect on it. It was introduced separately to California
in the 1980s, making it the only introduced species of Commelina in the western United States. It is associated with disturbed soils such as yards, lawns and cultivated areas, especially in cotton crops and orange groves.
it is used as animal fodder
and also eaten by humans as a vegetable. It is also used there medicinally, but with different purported effects, including as a laxative and to cure inflammations of the skin as well as leprosy
. The people of Nepal
eat the young leaves as a vegetable, use a paste derived from the plant to treat burns, and treat indigestion with a juice produced from the roots.
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. It has been widely introduced to areas outside its native range, including to the neotropics, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, the West Indies and to both coasts of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. It flowers from spring into the fall and is often associated with disturbed soils.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
it has been placed on the Federal Noxious Weed List. It is considered a moderate weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
of rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
cultivation in Asia.
In China it is used as a medicinal herb that is said to have diuretic, febrifugal and anti-inflammatory effects, while in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
it is used to cure swellings of the skin, leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
and as a laxative.
Distribution and habitat
Commelina benghalensis is a wide-ranging plant, being native to tropical and subtropical AsiaAsia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, an area otherwise known as the paleotropics. In China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
it is commonly associated with wet locations. There it can be found from near sea level up to 2300 metres. It is present from the provinces
Province (China)
A province, in the context of Chinese government, is a translation of sheng formally provincial level divisions, which is an administrative division. Provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and the special administrative regions, make up the four types of province of administrative division...
of Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
and Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
in the northeast, west to Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
and in all provinces south to Hainan
Hainan
Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
, the southernmost province. It is also found in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. In Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
the plant is restricted to the southern portions of the country from the southern Kanto Region
Kanto region
The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....
westward and including the islands of Shikoku
Shikoku
is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
and Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
. Although its roots and tubers are used as a food source, C. benghalensis is not cultivated in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, where it grows as a weed.
The plant has also been widely introduced beyond its range to the neotropics, the southeastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
, Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
and St Vincent
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean....
. In Puerto Rico the plant is known from a single collection from Cayey. In the southeastern United States the plant was collected in the 1928, while it was first collected in Hawaii in 1909. In the southeastern states it is present in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and spreading. It was added to the Federal Noxious Weed List in 1983, and by 2003 was considered the most serious pest of Georgia's cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
crop due to widely used herbicides such as glyphosate having little effect on it. It was introduced separately to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the 1980s, making it the only introduced species of Commelina in the western United States. It is associated with disturbed soils such as yards, lawns and cultivated areas, especially in cotton crops and orange groves.
Uses
In China, the plant is used medicinally as a diuretic, febrifuge and anti-inflammatory. In PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
it is used as animal fodder
Fodder
Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...
and also eaten by humans as a vegetable. It is also used there medicinally, but with different purported effects, including as a laxative and to cure inflammations of the skin as well as leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
. The people of Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
eat the young leaves as a vegetable, use a paste derived from the plant to treat burns, and treat indigestion with a juice produced from the roots.