Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie was a French botanist who specialized in the plants of Madagascar.
Commelinaceae is a family of flowering plants. In less formal contexts, the group is referred to as the dayflower family or spiderwort family. It is one of five families in the order Commelinales and by far the largest of these with about 731 known species in 41 genera. Well known genera include Commelina (dayflowers) and Tradescantia (spiderworts). The family is diverse in both the Old World tropics and the New World tropics, with some genera present in both. The variation in morphology, especially that of the flower and inflorescence, is considered to be exceptionally high amongst the angiosperms.
PlowmanianthusFaden & C.R.Hardy is a genus of plants with 5 species and 2 subspecies in the family Commelinaceae. The genus is distributed from Panama to Amazonian Peru and Brazil.
Cyanotis is a genus of mainly perennial plants in the family Commelinaceae, first described in 1825. It is native to Africa, southern Asia, and northern Australia.
Aneilema is a genus of monocotyledonous plants of approximately 60 species. The vast majority of the species are native to sub-Saharan Africa, but a few are found in Oceania and one, Aneilema brasiliense, is from South America. It is the third largest genus in the family Commelinaceae after Commelina and Tradescantia, and it is one of only six genera in the family to occur in both the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere.
Commelina mascarenica is a monocotyledonous, herbaceous plant in the dayflower family from East Africa. This pale blue-flowered herb is found in a variety of open habitats from open bush to roadsides. Although the species was originally thought to be restricted to Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, further study revealed that the species is also widely distributed along the East African coast from Somalia south to Mozambique. It had formerly been confused with the closely related species Commelina imberbis and Commelina lukei, the latter occurring alongside C. mascarenica throughout much of its range.
Tricarpelema is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Commelinaceae consisting of 8 species. The genus is divided into two subgenera, subgenus Tricarpelema, which includes 7 known species found in tropical Asia, and subgenus Keatingia with one species in western Africa. The Asian species are typically found in the forest understory while the single African species has evolved to drier, sunnier conditions and is usually associated with inselbergs.
Commelinoideae is a subfamily of monocotyledonous plants in the dayflower family (Commelinaceae). It is one of two subfamilies within the Commelinaceae and includes 39 genera and all but 12 of the family's several hundred known species. The subfamily is further broken down into two tribes, the Tradescantieae, which includes 26 genera and about 300 species, and the Commelineae, which contains 13 genera and about 350 species.
Dichorisandrinae is a subtribe within the tribe Tradescantieae of the flowering plant family Commelinaceae. It consists of 5 genera and around 51 species.
Geogenanthus poeppigii, commonly called the seersucker plant, is a flowering plant species in the family Commelinaceae. As currently circumscribed, the genus Geogenanthus includes two other species, G. ciliatus and G. rhizanthus. This species is named after 19th century German naturalist Eduard Friedrich Poeppig. Geogenanthus undatus is an outdated synonym for G. poeppigii.
Murdannia is a genus of annual or perennial monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Commelinaceae.
Polyspatha is a genus of perennial monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Commelinaceae. It is restricted to tropical Africa consists of three recognized species.
Coleotrype is a genus of perennial monocotyledonous flowering plants in the dayflower family. It is found in Africa and Madagascar.
Amischotolype is a genus of perennial monocotyledonous flowering plants in the Commelinaceae. It is found in Central Africa and from India through Southeast Asia to New Guinea, with the great majority or species found in Asia.
Commelina welwitschii is an herbaceous plant in the dayflower family found in Southern Africa from Zimbabwe to Angola. A phylogenetic study based on the nuclear ribosomal DNA region 5S NTS and the chloroplast region trnL-trnF, two commonly used gene regions for determining relationships, revealed that Commelina welwitschii forms a clade with Commelina purpurea and Commelina fluviatilis. Both of these relatives are African, share an unusual leaf anatomy, and have linear leaves that are often folded. Although it has yellow flowers, this study did not find a close relationship with Commelina capitata or Commelina africana, the two other African yellow-flowered species. Robert Faden, an expert on the Commelinaceae, points out that Commelina welwitschii is one of only three species in the genus to have bead-like rhizomes along with Commelina crassicaulis and Commelina sphaerorrhizoma. While it is clear that the former species is most likely a close relative given its many other similarities, the latter species is unlikely closely related given major differences in other characters.
Pollia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Commelinaceae, first described in 1781. It is widespread through the Old World Tropics: Africa, southern Asia, northern Australia, etc. There is also one species endemic to Panama.
Rhopalephora is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Commelinaceae, first described in 1864. It is native to Asia, Madagascar, and a few islands in the Pacific.
