Taxonomic history:
1753: Linnaeus described this species as Commelina zanonia in Species Plantarum, 1st ed., p. 41.
today: The current name for this species is Tradescantia zanonia (L.) Sw.
original Latin diagnosis
Commelina corollis aequalibus, pedunculis incrassatis, foliis lineari-lanceolatis.
Note: this final adjective was misspelled as linearli-lanceolatis in Species Plantarum.
English translation
Commelina with corollas equal; with peduncles thickened; [and] with leaf blades linear-lanceolate.
| Commelina | Commelina |
| with corollas | corollis - ablative plural of first declension feminine noun corolla, -ae |
| equal; | aequalibus - ablative plural feminine of group B adjective aequalis, -is, -e; modifies corollis |
| with peduncles | pedunculis - ablative plural of second declension masculine noun pedunculus, -i |
| thickened; | incrassatis - ablative plural masculine of perfect passive participle of first conjugation verb incrasso, -are, -avi, -atum; modifies pedunculis |
| [and] | [added for smoother reading] |
| with leaf blades | foliis - ablative plural of second declension neuter noun folium, -i |
| linear-lanceolate. | lineari-lanceolatis - lineari- (combining form of group B adjective linearis, -is, -e) + lanceolatis (ablative plural neuter of group A adjective lanceolatus, -a, -um); modifies foliis |