All About Gesneriads
The above picture is a seed-filled berry on a Corytoplectus cutucuensis
Why Does Everyone Need a Gesneriad Plant?
Since there are over 3300 species of Gesneriads to choose from, many of them grow wonderfully in household conditions. You will find a size, color, shape and plant that will fit your lifestyle and needs perfectly!
What Makes a Gesneriad a Gesneriad?
Gesneriads are a large family of plants with more than 3300 different species. A species is a group of organisms with can reproduce with one another to make fertile offspring. These wonderful plants grow throughout the world's tropical and temperate zones. Gesneriads can be found on 6 of the 7 continents. There are even Gesneriads that are found in North America but unfortunately there are no native species found whose range is as far north as the United States.
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If 3300 species aren't enough to choose from, many of the more popular species of Gesneriads such as the African violet, Streptocarpus and the Florist's Gloxinia (Sinningia speciosa) have been enthusiastically hybridized giving us additional thousands of individual varieties to choose from in all colors, shapes and sizes. New and never before seen species of Gesneriads are also being discovered each year with many of the new species found in south Asia.
Gesneriads are typically grouped by some of their different atributes. One of their features are their root structures. The Gesneriad family is sorted into three basic groups. Many of the well known favorites like the African violets and Streptocarpus have only fibrous roots. Other plants like Kohlerias or Achimenes have additional root structures along with the fibrous roots called rhizomes. A rhizomes is actually a modified underground stem which has its leaves packed closely around it. Looking at a rhizome might remind you of a tiny but underground pine cone. The third root group is called tuberous. A tuberous plant like a Sinningia has fibrous roots and produces tubers which are modified plant sturctures that are swollen and enlarged to store food for the plant. A potato, which is not a Gesneriad, is an example of a tuber produced by a plant.
Gesneriads have many other characteristics that help place them in the Gesneriad family. The plants are wonderfully fuzzy. Leaves, stems, flowers and even the seed pods have tiny threadlike hair all over them which are actually modified plant cells called trichomes. They also typically have two to four stamens which are joined in pairs or all together. There are usually 5 petals joined at the base to form a tubular flower with one pistil containing a one chambered superior ovary held above five sepals. Most Gesneriads produce seeds that are very abundant and tiny! The 'Parts of a Typical Gesneriad Flower' diagram gives you more specific informantion.
How The Taxonomists Do It
Plants are placed into groups by how their structures, like their leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds, look. Also, by where and how they grow, their genetics and other details.
People who study and classify living things are called taxonomists. For example, a taxonomist finds something with big leaves, yellow flowers and roots. It is alive so they categorize it first into one of the five kingdoms, animal, fungi, plant etc. It is placed in the plant group because of its features. It makes seeds and not pine cones, so it is put it into a smaller sub-group called angiosperms or seed producers. The plant keeps getting put into smaller and smaller groups by examining how it looks and behaves until it is unique and in a group of one, the species.
Gesneriads are a group of plants with features you see in the illustration 'Parts of a Typical Gesneriad Flower'