🌿 Weed
ANX-WEED-0000261
Tropical Spiderwort
Commelina benghalensis
Tropical Spiderwort (Commelina benghalensis), a perennial broadleaf weed of the Commelinaceae family.
- Family
- Commelinaceae
- Growth habit
- Broadleaf
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Invasive status
- Noxious/regulated in some regions (e.g. parts of the USA)
- Native region
- Tropical Africa and Asia, now naturalized in the southeastern USA and elsewhere.
- Reproduction
- Seed (both above-ground and self-fertilizing underground flowers) and stem fragments that root readily at each node.
Environment
Habitat & Growing Conditions
- Habitat
- Cultivated fields, gardens, disturbed and shaded ground.
- Climate requirements
- Tropical to subtropical; thrives in warm, humid conditions.
- Soil types
- Tolerates a wide range of soils, including compacted and shaded ground.
Impact
Crops Affected & Economic Impact
- Affected crops
- Cotton, soybean, vegetables, and most row crops in warm climates
- Competition impact
- Fleshy, brittle stems root at every node when cut, so tillage can spread rather than kill it; underground self-pollinating flowers guarantee seed production even without visible flowering.
- Economic impact
- An increasingly problematic weed of row-crop agriculture, partly because of natural tolerance to widely used herbicides.
Management
Control Methods
- Control methods
- Avoid tillage that spreads stem fragments; hand-remove and dispose of plant material away from moist soil.
- Organic control
- Hand weeding with complete removal of stem fragments, dense crop canopy competition.
- Chemical control
- Certain glyphosate-tolerant crop systems have seen this species increase, since it has natural tolerance to some common herbicides - control often needs a combination of herbicide modes of action.