Commelina is a genus of approximately 170 species commonly called dayflowers due to the short lives of their flowers. They are less often known as widow's tears. It is by far the largest genus of its family, Commelinaceae. The Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus of the 18th century named the genus after the two Dutch botanists Jan Commelijn and his nephew Caspar, each representing one of the showy petals of Commelina communis.
The dayflowers are herbs that may be either perennial or annual. They are characterised by their zygomorphic flowers and by the involucral bracts called spathes that surround the flower stalks. These spathes are often filled with a mucilaginous liquid. Each spathe houses either one or two scorpioid cymes, with the upper cyme being either vestigial or bearing from one to several typically male flowers, and the lower cyme bearing several flowers. All members of the genus have alternate leaves.
The Asiatic dayflower (Commelina communis) is probably the best known species in the West. It is a common weed in parts of Europe and throughout eastern North America. Several species, such as Commelina benghalensis, are eaten as a leaf vegetable in Southeast Asia and Africa.
High flying, adored
So young, the instant queen
A rich, beautiful thing
Of all the talents
Across between
A fantasy of the bedroom
And a saint
You were just a backstreet girl
Hustling and fighting
Scratching and biting
High flying, adored
Did you believe
In your wildest moments
All this would be yours
That you'd become
The lady of them all?
Were there stars in your eyes
When you crawled in at night
From the bars, from the sidewalks
From the gutter-the-atrical?
Don't look down
It's a long, long way to fall
High flying, adored
What happens now?
Where do you go from here?
For someone on top of the world
The view is not exactly clear
A shame you did it all
At twentysix
There are no mysteries now
Nothing can thrill you
No one fulfill you
High flying, adored
I hope you come to terms with burden
So famous, so easily
So soon is not the wisest thing to be
You won't care if they love you
It's been done before
You'll despair if they hate you
You'll be drained of all energy
All the young who've made it
Would agree
High flying, adored
That's good to hear
But unimportant
My story's quite usual:
Local girl makes good
Weds famous man
I was slap in the right place
At the perfect time
Filled a gap - I was lucky
But one thing I say for me
No one else can fill it