Gesneria picta, Curtis’ Botanical Magazine (1849)

In-depth articles are an important feature of the Gesneriad Reference Web. While information is presented in a variety of ways, including the Genus Pages and the individual Plant Pages, Articles are the way in which we present comprehensive coverage of important subjects.

In some cases, we will have articles addressing the detail of particular genera, where the size, complexity or popularity of the genus warrants this.  Our article by Jeff Smith on Saintpaulia is one such an example, and, among many other things, addresses the taxonomic reality that African Violets are in the genus Streptocarpus, and that Saintpaulia is no longer a valid genus name.

The lead article for the entire site is Anton Weber’s “Gesneriaceae – A Scientific Perspective”.   Other articles include Jim Smith’s Columnea,  The Sinningia Alliance by Alan Lavergne and Dave Zaitlin, and Saintpaulia by Jeff Smith. Also included is an article by David Middleton on the “ex-Chirita” group, the large and widely grown genus Chirita having been completely dismembered with species assigned to other genera.

We also expect to have articles on other interesting groups of genera, including coverage of the “Alpine and Temperate Gesneriads”; “Gesneria and Rhytidophyllum“, the largely Caribbean group of related plants;  “Coronantherae”, the interesting group resident in the south Pacific from Chile to Australia, and others.

This is a long-term effort.  As “official” new articles are produced they will appear in the drop-down list produced by hovering over “Articles” on the main menu. Not yet included in the drop-down list is Fragrant Gesneriads by John Bogganm, which can be accessed through this link, but may be updated in the future and listed in the drop down list.