Tinantia is a genus of plants in the Commelinaceae, first described in 1839. They are commonly called widow's tears or false dayflowers due to their resemblance of the closely related true dayflowers of the genus Commelina. Tinantia is native to North and South America from Texas + Hispaniola to Argentina, with a center of diversity from Mexico to Nicaragua. Tinantia pringlei, an alpine native of Mexico, is grown as an ornamental in temperate areas and is also a common greenhouse weed. The genus was named in honour of François Tinant, a Luxembourger forester. Species Tinantia anomala (Torr.) C.B.Clarke - Texas, Durango Tinantia caribaea Urb. - Lesser Antilles, Trinidad & Tobago, Colombia Tinantia erecta (Jacq.) Fenzl - widespread from central Mexico to Argentina; naturalized in Azores, Madeira, Java, Angola, northern India Tinantia glabra (Standl. & Steyerm.) Rohweder - southern Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela Tinantia leiocalyx C.B.Clarke ex J.D.Sm. - central + southern Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Venezuela Tinantia longipedunculata Standl. & Steyerm. - central + southern Mexico, Central America Tinantia macrophylla S.Wats. - Chihuahua, Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango, Jalisco Tinantia parviflora Rohweder - central + southern Mexico, Central America, Colombia Tinantia pringlei (S.Watson) Rohweder - Tamaulipas, Nuevo León Tinantia sprucei C.B.Clarke - Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela, Brazil Tinantia standleyi Steyerm. - central + southern Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, southern Brazil Tinantia umbellata (Vahl) Urb. - Guyana, Venezuela Tinantia violacea Rohweder - southern Mexico, Central America References External links Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas Flowers by the Sea Commelinaceae Commelinales genera