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Wednesday - December 29, 2010

From: San Antonio, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Seed and Plant Sources
Title: Seeds for Commelina erecta from San Antonio
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Where can I buy Commelina erecta seeds?

ANSWER:

Commelina erecta (Whitemouth dayflower) is sometimes considered a weed, but we consider it a lovely blue perennial. You can see by this USDA Plant Profile that it grows natively in the area of Bexar County. You can follow the above plant link to our page on this plant to learn more about its care and culture, including the following Growing Conditions:

Light Requirement: Part Shade
Soil Moisture: Dry
Soil Description: Dry, sandy soils.
Conditions Comments: Commelina erecta can be grown from seed or transplanted tubers. Its flower is a beautiful medium blue, most frequently seen in spring or fall but occasionally occuring in July and August. It is well suited to naturalized mass plantings in meadows or by wooded areas; beware that the plant can become invasive. This is a variable species, particularly in regards to the size and shape of the leaves. This variation has led to segregation as species or varieties by some authorities.

Under Propagation, our information says it should be by tubers, which means that if you could find someone with a stand of the plant, they could probably let you dig up some tubers. We first checked with our favorite supplier of seeds native to Texas, Native American Seed, for Commelina erecta but they had no seed available by that name. The did have seed for Tradescantia occidentalis (Prairie spiderwort), which is similar and in the same family, Commelinaceae. We then went to our National Suppliers Directory, entered "San Antonio, TX" in the Enter Search Location box and got a number of native plant and seed suppliers in your general area. They all have contact information and most have websites so you could check in advance for availability, possibility having the seeds mailed to you.

From our Native Plant Image Gallery:

Commelina erecta