Plant
Virginia Dayflower
Commelina virginicaAlso known as Wetland Dayflower
Virginia dayflower thrives in damp woods, stream margins, and swampy thickets across the eastern United States. Each striking sky-blue blossom opens at dawn and liquifies into a dark jellied mass by afternoon, giving the bloom a single fleeting morning to attract pollinators. Reddish hairs ringing the top of the leaf sheaths and thick underground rhizomes distinguish this native perennial from its close relatives.
PerennialWetlandBlue Flowers
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Not EvaluatedConservation statusIUCN Red List categoriesLCNTVUENCREWEXNot Evaluated — not placed on the risk ladderRed List categories, explained →
Diet & preyPhotosynthetic
Predators
- White-tailed Deer
- Caterpillars
- Grasshoppers
ThreatsHabitat Degradation, Invasive Plant Competition
HabitatsWetland Edges, Floodplains, Swampy Woods, Stream Banks
Life spanPerennial
Classification
- FamilyCommelinaceae
- SpeciesCommelina virginica
Range data is not available yet.
Interaction riskLow
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Very high
- Why interaction risk is low
- Safe to observe at a normal distance.
Responsible observation
- Timing: Look for open blooms early in the morning, as individual flowers melt by mid-afternoon.
- Identification: Examine the leaf sheaths for reddish hairs near the stem junction to confirm identity.
- Habitat: Search along damp woodland borders, ditches, and shady floodplain trail edges.
Close Relative (c) Michael J. Papay, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Michael J. Papay · cc-by
Introduced Relative (c) NotAnonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · cc-by-sa
Family Relative (c) Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas · cc-by
Close Relative (c) Nathan Aaron, some rights reserved (CC BY) · cc-by
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