Cyanotis D.Don

Scientific Description

Family Commelinaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Herbs; evergreen. Plants leaves succulent, or non-succulent. Annual, or perennial; plants with a basal concentration of leaves, or with neither basal nor terminal concentrations of leaves (?). Young stems cylindrical, or oval in section (?); often breaking easily at the nodes. Bulbaceous, or rhizomatous. Mesophytic, or helophytic (?). Leaves alternate; spiral, or distichous (?); fleshy, or ‘herbaceous’ (?); petiolate, or sessile (?); sheathing. Leaf sheaths with joined margins. Leaves simple. Leaf blades entire; parallel-veined. Leaves eligulate. Leaf blade margins entire. Vernation involute, or plicate (?). Vegetative anatomy. Plants with silica bodies, or without silica bodies (?). Leaf anatomy. Leaf blade epidermis without differentiation into ‘long’ and ‘short’ cells. Guard-cells not ‘grass type’. Glandular hairs absent. Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening absent.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Floral nectaries absent (nectaries lacking). Autogamous or entomophilous (but without nectar). Pollination mechanism conspicuously specialized, or unspecialized (?).

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences terminal and axillary; without involucral bracts; espatheate (each cyme subtended by a leaf or recurved leaf-like bract). Flowers regular; cyclic. Perigone tube absent. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 6; 2 -whorled; isomerous; free, or joined; sepaloid and petaloid; different in the two whorls; blue, or violet, or purple. Calyx 3; 1 -whorled; polysepalous, or gamosepalous (basally); regular. Corolla 3; 1 -whorled; polypetalous, or gamopetalous (often connate above the claw, but free and spreading distally); regular; blue, or violet, or purple. Petals below the connate tube clawed. Androecium 6. Androecial members free of the perianth; subequal; free of one another; usually 2 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 6; diplostemonous. Filaments usually densely hairy. Anthers dorsifixed, or basifixed (?); versatile, or non-versatile (?); dehiscing via pores; latrorse; appendaged, or unappendaged (?). Gynoecium 3 carpelled. The pistil 3 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious, or eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary plurilocular; 3 locular. The ‘odd’ carpel (where ascertainable) anterior (?). Styles 1; apical. Stigmas wet type, or dry type (?); papillate, or non-papillate (?); Group II type, Group III type, and Group IV type (?). Placentation axile. Ovules 2 per locule; ascending; arillate; orthotropous to hemianatropous (?).

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules loculicidal. Seeds rounded; copiously endospermic. Endosperm not oily (mealy). Seeds with starch. Cotyledons 1, or 2 (? the second sometimes present, vestigial). Testa operculate (in the form of a characteristic callosity, the ‘embryostega’, covering the embryo); smooth. Seedling. Hypocotyl internode present, or absent (?). Seedling collar conspicuous, or not conspicuous (?). Cotyledon hyperphyll elongated, or compact (?). Coleoptile present, or absent (?). First leaf dorsiventral. Primary root ephemeral.

Physiology, biochemistry. Aluminium accumulation not found. Photosynthetic pathway: C₃.

Geography, cytology, number of species. Native of Australia. Not endemic to Australia. Australian states and territories: Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland. Northern Botanical Province.