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Commelina diffusa

Mauku-vai

Commelina

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Type	Description	Download
Image:	Leaves and flowers (1)	41KB
Image:	Leaves and flowers (2)	58KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Commelina

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Mauku Vai / Mauku / Mauku Puakatoro (RR), Mauku Vai (MG MK AK MH), Mauku Puakatoro (AT), Mauku Vai / Mauku Tītā (MT); Other Polynesian - Mau‘u Toga (SAM)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Africa - Asia - Malesia - Fiji - ?Tonga / ?Samoa

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands, wetlands

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Stock Food, Medicine; Weed - moderate

KEY FEATURES: Sprawling succulent herb, to 70cm high. STEMS slender, rooting. LEAVES green, ovate, to 6x3cm. FLOWERS blue, 1-2 protruding from a green bract during the morning.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	++++	++++	++++	+++	++++		-	-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	P	-	-	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Commelina diffusa N.L.Burm.
SYNONYMS: Commelina nudiflora [sensu GW]; Commelina pacifica

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); COMMELINIDAE; Commelinales; COMMELINACEAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: Sprawling succulent herb, to 70cm high. STEMS slender, rooting at nodes. LEAVES green, ovate, to 6x3cm, finely hairy. FLOWERS 1-2, protrude during the morning from a green folded bract; petals 3, blue.

GENERAL NOTE: A very widespread native plant, although its natural distribution across the South Pacific is uncertain. It was collected on Captain Cook's 1773 visit to Tonga, and Seemann considered it native in Fiji in 1808, and it was first collected in Hawaii in 1837 where botanists consider it to be a Recent Introduction. Cheeseman in 1899 considered it a Recent Introduction on Rarotonga, and this idea is generally accepted by other botanists.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.1379 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.185 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.281 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.1/280 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.300 R* Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.28 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.379d Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM04b, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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