Saintpaulia
Encyclopedia
Herbaceous
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the family Gesneriaceae
Gesneriaceae
Gesneriaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of ca. 150 genera and ca. 3,200 species in the Old World and New World tropics and subtropics, with a very small number extending to temperate areas. Many species have colorful and showy flowers and are cultivated as ornamental plants.Most...
, native to Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
and adjacent southeastern Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
in eastern tropical Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, with a concentration of species in the Nguru mountains
Nguru Mountains
The Nguru Mountains are a mountain range in Morogoro District, Tanzania, Africa. The mountains are predominantly covered with rainforest, are abundant with 83 species of bird life , and are the home of African violets...
of Tanzania. The genus is most closely related to Streptocarpus
Streptocarpus
Streptocarpus is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, closely related to the genus Saintpaulia. One common name is Cape Primrose, referring to the nativity of several species to South Africa and their superficial resemblance to the genus Primula...
, with recent phylogenetic studies suggesting it has evolved directly from subgenus Streptocarpella. The common name was given due to a superficial resemblance to true violet
Violet (plant)
Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with around 400–500 species distributed around the world. Most species are found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere; however, viola species are also found in widely divergent areas such as Hawaii, Australasia, and the Andes in...
s (Viola, family Violaceae
Violaceae
Violaceae are a family of flowering plants consisting of about 800 species in 21 genera. It takes its name from the genus Viola, the violets and pansies.Older classifications such as the Cronquist system placed Violaceae in an order named after it, the Violales...
). Typically the African violet is a common household indoor plant but can also be an outdoor plant.
Taxonomy
The genus is named after Baron Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire (1860–1910), the district commissioner of Tanga province who discovered the plant in TanganyikaTanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
(now Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
) in Africa in 1892 and sent seeds back to his father, an amateur botanist in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Two British plant enthusiasts, Sir John Kirk and Reverend W.E. Taylor, had earlier collected and submitted specimens to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
, in 1884 and 1887 respectively, but the quality of specimens was insufficient to permit scientific description at that time. The genus Saintpaulia, and original species S. ionantha, were scientifically described by J. C. Wendland
Johann Christoph Wendland
Johann Christoph Wendland was a German botanist and gardener who was a native of Petit-Landau, Alsace. His son- Heinrich Ludolph Wendland and his grandson- Hermann Wendland were also gardeners and botanists.As a young man he received an education in horticulture at the nursery of Karlsruhe Palace...
in 1893.
Saintpaulias grow from 6–15 cm tall and can be anywhere from 6–30 cm wide. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are rounded to oval, 2.5–8.5 cm long with a 2–10 cm petiole, finely hairy, and with a fleshy texture. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are 2–3 cm diameter, with a five-lobed velvety corolla ("petals"), and grow in clusters of 3–10 or more on slender stalks (peduncles). Flower colour in the wild species can be violet, purple, pale blue, or white.
Several of the species and subspecies are endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
, and many more are threatened, due to clearance of their native cloud forest
Cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...
habitat for agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
.
Revisions of the genus by B.L. Burtt
Brian Laurence Burtt
Brian Laurence Burtt , was an English botanist and taxonomist who is noted for his contributions to the family Gesneriaceae...
had expanded the genus to approximately 20 species. On the basis of recent studies that showed most of the species to be very poorly differentiated, both genetically and morphologically, the number of species has been reduced to six, with the majority of former species reduced to subspecies under S. ionantha, in a recent floristic treatment (Darbyshire 2006).
Old name vs. current name
- Saintpaulia amaniensis = S. ionantha ssp. grotei
- Saintpaulia brevipilosa = S. ionantha ssp. velutina
- Saintpaulia confusa = S. ionantha ssp. grotei
- Saintpaulia difficilis = S. ionantha ssp. grotei
- Saintpaulia diplotricha = S. ionantha ssp. ionantha var. diplotricha
- Saintpaulia grandifolia = S. ionantha ssp. grandifolia
- Saintpaulia grotei = S. ionantha ssp. grotei
- Saintpaulia intermedia = S. ionantha ssp. pendula
- Saintpaulia magungensis = S. ionantha ssp. grotei
- Saintpaulia magungensis var. minima = S. ionantha ssp. grotei
- Saintpaulia magungensis var. occidentalis = S. ionantha ssp. occidentalis
- Saintpaulia nitida = S. ionantha ssp. nitida
- Saintpaulia orbicularis = S. ionantha ssp. orbicularis
- Saintpaulia pendula = S. ionantha ssp. pendula
- Saintpaulia pendula var. kizarae = S. ionantha ssp. pendula
- Saintpaulia rupicola = S. ionantha ssp. rupicola
- Saintpaulia tongwensis = S. ionantha ssp. ionantha var. ionantha
- Saintpaulia velutina = S. ionantha ssp. velutina
Cultivation
Saintpaulias are widely cultivated as house plants. Until recently, only a few of these species have been used in breeding programs for the hybrids available in the market; most available as house plants are cultivarCultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s derived from Saintpaulia ionantha (syn. S. kewensis). A wider range of species is now being looked at as sources of genes to introduce into modern cultivars.
The African Violet Society of America
African Violet Society of America
The African Violet Society of America is an international society of plant enthusiasts who promote the cultivation of African violets as house plants. The Society hosts an annual convention and publishes a bi-monthly full-color 64-page magazine, the African Violet Magazine.-History:The African...
is the International Cultivar Registration Authority
International Cultivar Registration Authority
An International Cultivation Registration Authority is an organization responsible for ensuring that each plant cultivar receives a unique, authoritative botanical name....
for the genus Saintpaulia and its cultivars.