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A flower that makes you smile

2008 July 31

Originally published July 31, 2008
A congregation of dayflowers “holding court” behind Weaver Street Market. Photo by Ken Moore.
A congregation of dayflowers “holding court” behind Weaver Street Market. Photo by Ken Moore

By Ken Moore

Every time I walk by one of these little flowers, I feel a smile inside and my instinct is to pause long enough to say: “Hi, how you doin’?”

Early this week, I took one of these little flowers to Padgett Station, one of my Carrboro coffee spots, and set it in front of Jami and Logan, who were working behind the counter.

“What is your response to this little flower?” I asked without any preliminaries.

Jami studied it intently for just a few seconds before a smile lit up her face and she responded, “It looks like a little old man with a beret!”

Logan’s instant response: “It looks like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch!” He then had to explain to me that Stitch is a character in a Disney film. So I’m not alone in having animated responses to the common or Asiatic dayflower, Commelina communis. I frequently think of a blue-eared Minnie Mouse when I see it.

There are several species of dayflowers. The common name is appropriate since each flower blooms for only one day. The one we are most likely to encounter, the Asiatic dayflower, is an annual from China. It is likely quickly snatched from well-tended gardens before it is ever allowed to express it’s cheerful flowers, but in my yard it’s allowed to wander about from year to year. Frequenters of Weaver Street Market in Carrboro may spot it reaching over the brick wall above the patio where it freely moves about among the perennials. Nearby there is a vigorous population, looking like a deliberately planted groundcover, on the edge of the market’s paved delivery area.

Upon a closer look, you will spot a smaller white petal below the two larger blue ones. If you ever see a third blue petal, you’ve most likely come upon Commelina virginica, the native Virginia dayflower, which is a perennial of moist woodlands of the Piedmont and coastal plain regions. I don’t recall ever having seen the native dayflower. During all of my more than three decades of woods walking, I must have seen it. I just didn’t know what I was seeing. Now a bit wiser, I’m keeping my eyes open for a new discovery.

Looking closely into the flower, you will be curious about what appear to be three or four miniature four-petaled yellow flowers. Those are sterile stamens; their curious colorful shapes must serve some practical function in attracting pollinators. For me, those yellow, flower-shaped sterile stamens give the dayflower an animated personality.

Paul Green expresses a wonderful sentiment in The Paul Green Plant Book: “Not long ago my wife and I discovered two of these plants growing along the edge of the little stream that flows from our spring back of the house. Nearly every day in walking along our path we would turn off to see these little flowers.”

Whenever you come upon this common dayflower, take a few moments to let your imagination reign. Don’t be surprised if you are inclined to have a conversation with it. Go ahead, no one is looking; you’re free to talk to a flower.

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