Gesneriads
Whatever
is a gesneriad? Almost all individual plants belong to larger plant
families. In the case of the African violet whose botanical name is
Saintpaulia the larger family is the “Gesneriads” or Gesneriaceae in
botanical Latin. Sometimes the relationship is made obvious by readily
apparent similarities in the plant. For example, yes, the Florist’s Gloxinia
(properly called Sinningia speciosa) is also a gesneriad and bears a
substantial outward resemblance to the African violet. There are many more
and this outward resemblance is often not nearly so obvious.
The whole
gesneriad family has a big following among amateur and commercial growers.
There are local plant society’s devoted entirely to growing of the family
and many African violet societies include gesneriads in their programs and
shows. A large society in the United States with members world-wide is
devoted entirely to promotion and study of the family. This society is
called The Gesneriad Society. (It was formerly known as the American Gloxinia and Gesneriad Society.) We present a brief
introduction to gesneriads here, but, if you are interested in more detail
and photos, visit their web site at
http://www.gesneriadsociety.org/. The Gesneriad Society is holding its
annual Convention and Show in Vancouver this year, June 29-July 3. For more
details about this show, see our Coming Events
page.
The
gesneriad family is very large covering many genera and species and we do
not have space for a detailed description of all. They hail from many
environments around the world, but most are tropical or semi-tropical. As an
introduction we will group and describe the plants by root-type and growth
habit and name a few of the more familiar species in the type.
Fibrous-rooted
Gesneriads
A
fibrous-rooted plant forms a fairly typical root ball which resembles the
branching of a tree that is viewed upside down. African violets and a large
number of other gesneriads fall into this category. Among the others is
Episcia also known as the “Chocolate Soldier Plant” or “Peacock Plant” which
has the added distinction of having stolons which spread the plant similarly
to the runners of a strawberry plant. Aeschynanthus (Lipstick Plant),
Columnea, and Nematanthus (Goldfish Plant) are other examples of the
fibrous-rooted type. These three are commonly grown by hobbyists as basket
plants as the majority have a trailing growth habit. Among the most popular
and very closely related to African violets are Streptocarpus (Cape
Primrose) and its trailing subgenus Streptocarpella.
Tuberous-rooted Gesneriads
A tuber
is an enlarged storage area on the root of some plants. People familiar with
the common potato will know exactly what a tuber is as will anyone who has
grown tuberous begonias. Tuberous plants will go dormant during trying
conditions of heat and drought and are reborn from the tuber when the
conditions become favourable again. The gesneriad family has a major group
of members that are tuberous. This genus is known and Sinningia and it has
many species, large and small, low-growing or almost tree-like. Sinningia
hail from Central and South America. The so-called Florist Gloxinia is
actually a Sinningia, while the plant that is truly called Gloxinia is in
the next category below, rhizomatous gesneriads. The only other Gesneriad
that produces tubers that is frequently encountered is called Nautilocalyx.
Rhizomatous Gesneriads
A rhizome
is a thickened section of plant stem usually found below ground although it
can occur above ground. Like a tuber, it is a storage mechanism and
rhizomatous plants will go dormant under adverse conditions just as tuberous
ones do. Rhizomatous gesneriads include Achimenes which is often grown as an
indoor or outdoor basket plants, Smithiantha (Temple Bells) popular as an
indoor upright plant, Kohleria, and many more. This is an interesting group
of gesneriads because they are so closely related that many intergeneric
hybrids are possible.
A few
photos of selected gesneriads appear on the right. Please visit our Photo
Gallery to see more shots and appreciate the immense variety of this plant
family.
The
Gesneriad Society devotes more attention to the
entire gesneriad family. If you find the gesneriads of interest to you, you
should visit their web site:
http://www.gesneriadsociety.org/.
Another
web site with excellent information and images of gesneriads is the
Gesneriad Reference Web maintained by Canadian gesneriad expert Ron Myhr:
http://www.gesneriads.ca. You may also want to visit the web site of
Brazilian expert Mauro Peixoto:
http://www.brazilplants.com/. Many, many gesneriads are native to
Brazil.
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