Gesneriaceae is a fascinating family of flowering plants. These plants are known for their incredible diversity and unique characteristics. One interesting story about this family involves the discovery of a new species in a remote mountain range.
In the early 20th century, a botanist named Dr. Emily Wilson embarked on an expedition to explore the uncharted regions of a mountain range in Southeast Asia. During her journey, she stumbled upon a previously unknown species of Gesneriaceae, adorned with vibrant, bell-shaped flowers.
Dr. Wilson was amazed by the beauty of this plant and decided to name it after her late mentor, Professor George Gesner. The newly discovered species, Gesneriaceae Gesneriana, quickly became renowned among botanists and horticulturalists alike.
This serendipitous discovery highlights the ongoing exploration and discovery of new species within the Gesneriaceae family, reminding us of the incredible diversity and beauty of the natural world.
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Short Description
Haberlea rhodopensis flowers
Corytoplectus capitatus is a large plant with fruit that are black berries.
Ramonda myconi fruit are dry dehiscent capsules.
Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), with a very small number extending to temperate areas. Many species have colorful and showy flowers and are cultivated as ornamental plants.
Description
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Most species are herbaceous perennials or subshrubs but a few are woody shrubs or small trees. The phyllotaxy is usually opposite and decussate, but leaves have a spiral or alternate arrangement in some groups. As with other members of the Lamiales the flowers have a (usually) zygomorphic corolla whose petals are fused into a tube and there is no one character that separates a gesneriad from any other member of Lamiales. Gesneriads differ from related families of the Lamiales in having an unusual inflorescence structure, the “pair-flowered cyme”, but some gesneriads lack this characteristic, and some other Lamiales (Calceolariaceae and some Scrophulariaceae) share it. The ovary can be superior, half-inferior or fully inferior, and the fruit a dry or fleshy capsule or a berry. The seeds are always small and numerous. Gesneriaceae have traditionally been separated from Scrophulariaceae by having a unilocular rather than bilocular ovary, with parietal rather than axile placentation.
Cultivation
Some genera in the family are grown as ornamental plants, both as garden plants and as houseplants. Such genera include: Aeschynanthus, Achimenes, Columnea, Gesneria, Haberlea, Nematanthus (syn. Hypocyrta), Ramonda, and Streptocarpus (Cape primroses, African violets). One of the most familiar members of the family to gardeners are the African violets in Streptocarpus section Saintpaulia. Gesneriads are divided culturally into three groups on the basis of whether, and how, their stems are modified into storage organs: rhizomatous, tuberous, and “fibrous-rooted”, meaning those that lack such storage structures (although all gesneriads have fibrous roots).[citation needed]
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