Murdannia lanuginosa

Appearance

Erect or suberect, branched herbs; fibrous roots often tuberous, slightly thickened; stem angular, glabrous or hairy. Leaves 3-6 x 0.4-0.8 cm, cauline, alternate, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, margin undulate, apex acute or shortly acuminate, base rounded, more or less amplexicaule, prominently striate, hairy; sheath 8-12 mm long, hairy. Flowers 5-6 mm long, 1-2, axillary to the upper leaf-sheaths; pedicels 2-4 cm long, erect or slightly bent in fruits, jointed at middle, hairy below the joints; bracteoles 2 at joints, ca. 1 mm long, membranous, ovate, obtuse. Calyx lobes 3, free, slightly unequal, ca. 6 x 2 mm, elliptic-oblong, subacute, straw-coloured, persistent. Petals 3, free, orange-yellow, bluish when dry, obovate, slightly longer than calyx lobes. Fertile stamens 3; filaments bearded; anthers 2-celled; staminodes 3. Capsule 5-7 mm long, oblong, trigonous, cuspidate with persistent style, 3-celled; seeds 3 or more, angular, pitted.
Flowering and fruiting: November-December

Naming

Common names: marsh dayflower, marsh dewflower • Marathi: अबोलिमा abolima

Synonyms
Aneilema lanuginosum Wall. ex C.B.Clarke
Aneilema sienneum Blatt.
Commelina lanuginosa B.Heyne ex Hook.f. [Invalid]
Murdannia siennea (Blatt.) Raizada
Phaeneilema lanuginosum (Wall. ex C.B.Clarke) G.Brückn.
Phaeneilema sienneum (Blatt.) Raizada

Distribution

Endemic to Western Ghats of Peninsular India
State - Kerala, District/s: Palakkad, Kannur, Wayanad

Habitat

Grasslands