Summer Beauty

Summer brings to the trails a plant that I just love, Commelina Communis or Asiatic Dayflower. It's an undocumented (well, actually a well documented) alien from eastern Asia (Remember, there are documents and then there is documentation!). In eastern Asia it is commonly found from Vladivostok to Vientiane and from the island of Kyushu to the Isthmus of Kra. It has managed to migrate to eastern Europe/western Asia where it thrives in the Apinnines as well as the Urals, and can be seen growing along the sunny banks of the Danube as well as the Dnepr. Across the pond, this true blue flower has established itself nearly everywhere east of the Mississippi and well into the great plains from central Texas to western Nebraska. Here it is classified as a noxious weed, but I love it just the same. In the greater pantheon of invasive species, it's really a lightweight. Can't hold a candle to Kudzu or even English ivy.

And it has use if but we knew how to use it. In China it was used as a medicinal herb with febrifugal, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic effects. It was also used to treat sore throats and tonsillitis. Modern pharmacology recognizes that the Asiatic Dayflower contains at least five active compounds. One of which, p-hydroxycinnamic acid, has antibacterial properties, and another, D-mannitol, demostrates an antitussive effect. It's also been eaten by both people and farm animals in China and regions of eastern India.


But the reason I love it? It's just so damn BLUE! Intensely, simply, beautifully, flawlessly BLUE.