Naked Stem Dewflower

Bruised plant relieves burns, itches, sores etc.

Murdannia nudiflora is found in the tropical areas of the Western Hemisphere.

Procumbent herb, subsimple to branched, 15-30(-45) cm long. Sometimes rooting at nodes; roots fibrous. Leaves linear to linear-oblong, alternate, narrowed into a basal sheath, glabrous or subglabrous, entire, acute or acuminate, 5-15 cm long, 7-10(-13) mm broad; basal sheath 6-10 mm long, slightly pubsescent with ciliate margins. Inflorescence panicled, terminal and axillary, subcorymbose or subglobose at the apex. Flowers c. 5 mm across, blue or purple; pedicels 3-4 mm long; bracts c. 3 mm long, boat-shaped, caducous. Sepals 1.5-2.5 mm long, oblong, pubescent, obtuse. Petals suborbicular, 2-3 mm long, 1.5-2 mm broad. Perfect stamens 2-3; staminodes 3-4; filaments bearded; anthers c. 0.5 mm long. Capsules subglobose-trigonous, 4 mm long, c. 2 mm broad, membranous, mucronate, 3-loculed with 2 seeds in each locule; seeds c. 1 mm long, subtriangular, tubercled, dark-brown.

Herbs, annual, unbranched to much branched, 8--30 cm. Leaves spirally arranged; blade linear or linear-lanceolate to lanceolate-oblong, 1.5--7(--18) ´ 0.3--0.8 cm. Inflorescences terminal or terminal and axillary; cymes few-flowered, solitary or fascicled, long-pedunculate; bracteoles caducous, scars spaced less than 2 mm apart. Flowers bisexual, slightly bilaterally symmetric, 4--6 mm wide; sepals 2--3 mm; petals pinkish purple or violet, 3--3.5(--6) mm; fertile stamens 2; filaments bearded; staminodes 4. Capsules 2.5--5 mm. Seeds 2 per locule, deeply pitted, 1.3--1.8 mm. 2n = 20 (Trinidad).

Herbs annual. Roots fibrous, slender, less than 0.3 mm in diam., glabrous or tomentose. Rhizomes absent. Stems numerous, diffuse, creeping proximally, simple or branched, 10--50 cm, glabrous. Leaves nearly all cauline, sometimes 1 or 2 basal; leaf sheath mostly less than 10 mm, hirsute throughout, sometimes glabrous except for a hirsute line along mouth slit; leaf blade linear or lanceolate, 2.5--10 × 0.5--1 cm, glabrous or sparsely hispid on both surfaces, apex obtuse or acuminate. Cincinni several, in terminal panicles, or solitary, with several densely arranged flowers; peduncle slender, to 4 cm; proximal involucral bracts leaflike but smaller than leaves, distal ones less than 10 mm; bracts caducous; pedicels slender, straight, 3--5 mm. Sepals ovate-elliptic, ca. 3 mm. Petals purple, obovate-orbicular. Fertile stamens 2; filaments bearded proximally; staminodes 2--4; antherodes 3-sect. Capsule ovoid-globose, trigonous, 3--4 mm. Seeds 2 per valve, yellow-brown, deeply pitted, or shallowly pitted and radiate white verrucose. Fl. and fr. (Jun--)Aug--Sep(--Oct).

Africa, Himalaya, India, Burma, China, S. Japan, Malaysia.

Distribution: Pakistan, Bharat, Bangla Desh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

200-1500 m

Flowering summer--fall. Weed in lawns, gardens, and other open or lightly shaded, disturbed sites; introduced; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., N.C., S.C., Tex.; Central America; South America; native, Asia.

Wet places by water, rarely among grass; low elevations (to 1500 m in Yunnan). C Anhui (Shucheng Xian), Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, S Henan (Tongbai Xian), WC Hunan (Xuefeng Shan), N and S Jiangsu, Jiangxi, C and E Shandong (Laoshan Xian, Tai Shan), C Sichuan (Emei Shan, Guanghan Xian), S and W Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Sikkim, Sri Lanka; Indian Ocean and Pacific Islands].

Commelina nudiflora Linnaeus, Mant. Pl. 2: 177. 1771; Aneilema nudiflorum (Linnaeus) Sweet

Commelina nudiflora Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 41. 1753; Aneilema nudiflorum (Linnaeus) R. Brown; Tradescantia malabarica Linnaeus.