Gesneriaceae - Gesneriads
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The Gesneriaceae is a family of 150 genera and around 3200 species of tropical dicotyledenous flowering herbs, shrubs and trees with a few temperate species.
The irregular fowers have five sepals and five petals which may be joined at their base to form a tube. Leaves and flowers may be softly hairy and are mostly opposite or whorled, but can be alternate. The ovary can be either inferior or superior and usually forms a rounded or ovate capsule contaiing numerous seeds, although some species bear berries. All Gesneriads have fibrous roots, but some also have tubers or rhizomes as storage organs and some species have aerial stolons.
The Gesneriaceae include many popular houseplants from the genera Achimenes, Gloxinia, Nemanthus, Saintpaulia and Streptocarpus. Most are undemanding.
The most widely grown succulent Gesneriad is Rechsteineria leucotricha (Cardinal flower), a tuberous plant producing simple branches bearing a cluster of leaves covered in silvery-white hairs. In the Spring, orange to red tubular flowers are produced in the centre of the leaf clusters.
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Plant Families with Succulent Species