Commelina benghalensis

Commelina benghalensis, commonly known as the Benghal dayflower, tropical spiderwort, or wandering Jew, kanshira in Bengali, is a perennial herb native to tropical Asia and Africa. It has been widely introduced to areas outside its native range, including to the neotropics, Hawaii, the West Indies and to both coasts of North America. It has a long flowering period, from spring to fall in subtropical areas, and throughout the year closer to the equator. It is often associated with disturbed soils.

A picture published with the record for Commelina benghalensis. What it shows has not been checked.

Herb Pilcher, USDA ARS · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CommelinaPBDB

Time the record covers

At most 4.6 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 5.333 Mya and 774 ka, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 2 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 1 of 2 occurrencesPleistocene5.5–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.5–4.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.4–4.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.4–3.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.2–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.0–830 ka Mya — about 0.2 occurrences830 ka–645 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8 Mya274 ka

2 occurrences of Commelina benghalensis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

2 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Olduvai — 2.99°S, 35.35°E

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The named rock units Commelina benghalensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Commelina benghalensis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Commelina benghalensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

57 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Commelina benghalensis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

2 references

Each of the 2 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Commelina benghalensis

Credit
Herb Pilcher, USDA ARS
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Commelina benghalensis was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCommelina through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753