Pollia secundiflora

Pollia secundiflora (Blume) Bakh.f., Bekn. Fl. Java 211: 10 1949. (syn: Aclisia cumingiana Hassk.; Aclisia elegans Hassk.; Aclisia gigantea Hassk.; Aclisia indica Wight; Aclisia secundiflora (Blume) Bakh.f.; Aclisia sorzogonensis E.Mey. ex C.Presl; Aneilema didymum Seem. [Invalid]; Aneilema imbricatum Warb.; Aneilema secundiflorum (Blume) Kunth; Aneilema siamense Craib; Commelina didyma Steud.; Commelina secundiflora Blume; Pollia aclisia Hassk.; Pollia didyma C.B.Clarke; Pollia elegans Hassk.; Pollia indica (Wight) Thwaites; Pollia secundiflora var. gigantea (Hassk.) Sanjappa; Pollia secundiflora var. indica (Wight) Sanjappa; Pollia siamensis (Craib) Faden ex D.Y.Hong; Pollia sorzogonensis (E.Mey. ex C.Presl) Steud.; Pollia sorzogonensis (E. Mey. ex C. Presl) Endl.; Pollia sorzogonensis var. indica (Wight) C.B.Clarke; Pollia umbellata H.Lév.);

Trop. & Subtrop. Asia to New Caledonia as per WCSP;

Andaman Is.; Assam; Bangladesh; Borneo; Cambodia; China South-Central; China Southeast; East Himalaya; Hainan; India; Jawa; Laos; Lesser Sunda Is.; Malaya; Maluku; Myanmar; Nansei-shoto; New Caledonia; New Guinea; Nicobar Is.; Philippines; Sri Lanka; Taiwan; Thailand; Vietnam as per Catalogue of Life;

Common name: Three-Stamen Pollia

Stout erect herbs, stem 30-45 cm high. Leaves 30 x 10 cm, elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, cordate-acuminate, acute to rounded at base, puberulus when young, glabrescent when mature; petiole of lower leaves to 1.2 cm long and sheaths up to 3.5 cm long; upper leaves nearly sesssile. Panicle to 12 x 8 cm. long peduncled; branches hairy. Flowers pedicelled. Sepals obovate. Petals white or pale pink, glabrous. Stamens 3, filaments naked; sterile anthers triangular. Ovary 3-celled, cells many ovuled. Fruits globose, blue; seeds 2-seriate, many.

Flowering and fruiting: November-December

Evergreen and semi-evergreen forests

Indo-Malesia and China

(attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi from India Biodiversity Portal)

Dictyospermum montanum or Pollia secundiflora (Commelinaceae) : 3 posts by 2 authors. 4 images.

I’d like to get a second opinion about the ”Dictyospermum montanum” (Commelinaceae) photographed by Vinayaraj and put on Wikicommons (https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictyospermum#/media) and on Indiabiodiversity.org (https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/243879). Is this actually Dictyospermum montanum or is it rather Pollia secundiflora?

The inflorescences and flowers on Vinayaraj’s pictures are just like the Pollia secundiflora that I photographed in Sri Lanka. It was easy to identify due to the large dark blue berries that are characteristic of this species and the brown hooked hairs on the spike, I found it as a large group of 1 meter high plants in a clearing in a lowland dry zone jungle. See pictures below. It is described on Flowers of India at flowersofindia.

The inflorescences are described as: ”White flowers borne in a spike longer than distal leaves, more than 20 cm. The spike is densely covered with brown-yellow hooked hairs, ,,, . Stamens are 6, with 3 fertile ones and 3 staminodes. Fruit is round, about 6 mm in diameter’.

I also photographed Dictyospermum montanum in a swampy shady area in a mountain forest in Sri Lanka and it is the same as the one on the photographs of this plant on Eflora of India (/species/a—l/cl/commelinaceae/dictyospermum/dictyospermum-montanum) and Flowers of India (flowersofindia).

The Dictyospermum montanum is described as having tiny flowers on the end of panicles.

Several herbarium specimens of Dictyospermum montanum and Pollia secundiflora can be viewed at

https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/search?q=Dictyospermum+montanum

and

https://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/search?q=+Pollia+secundiflora

(Specimens can be viewed individually by clicking on them, and then in greater detail by clicking on them again.)

The inflorescences of the plant … and I photographed matches the specimens of Pollia secundiflora.

Thanks, …, for the detailed and comprehensive post.

I am agreed with … view, both (https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictyospermum#/media and https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/243879) are nothing but a Pollia secundiflora.