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 and the New World, with a very small number extending to temperate areas. Many species have colorful and showy flowers and are cultivated as ornamental plants.
Gloxinia is a genus containing three species of tropical rhizomatous herbs in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. The species are primarily found in the Andes of South America, but Gloxinia perennis is also found in Central America and the West Indies, where it has probably escaped from cultivation.
Kohleria is a New World genus of the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. The plants are generally tropical herbs or subshrubs with velvety stems and foliage and brightly colored flowers with spots or markings in contrasting colors. They are rhizomatous and commonly include a period of dormancy in their growth cycle. The genus was revised in 1992 and was then recognized as having 19 species distributed in Central America and South America. phylogenetic in 2005 indicated that the epiphytic genus Capanea is derived from within Kohleria, and the two species of Capanea were subsequently transferred to Kohleria. The genus Pearcea is closely related.
Hans Joachim Wiehler was a German botanist who specialized in the plant family Gesneriaceae. In 1954 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Goshen Biblical Seminary in 1956. He married in 1958 and remained in the United States for the rest of his life. He obtained a master's degree in botany from Cornell University and in 1979 a PhD in Botany from the University of Miami. Wiehler was on the staff of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens from 1973 until 1982, when he left Selby to found the Gesneriad Research Foundation in Sarasota, Florida.
Pearcea is a genus of tropical herbaceous plants in the family Gesneriaceae native to western South America. It is classified in tribe Gloxinieae and is closely related to the genus Kohleria, in which some of its species were previously included. The genus Parakohleria has recently been synonymized under Pearcea, a conclusion later supported by molecular analyses that showed that Pearcea hypocyrtiflora was nested within the former Parakohlerias.
Nematanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae. All of its species are endemic to Brazil. Compared to other gesneriads, Nematanthus has leaves that are small, succulent, and hard-surfaced. The plant has a trailing, branching, and spreading habit; it is generally an epiphyte in nature and a hanging-basket plant in cultivation. The flower has fused petals. In some species, the flower has a "pouch" at the bottom. The fancied resemblance of such flowers to a goldfish gives these plants the common name goldfish plant or guppy plant.
Codonanthe is a genus of mainly epiphytic plants in the family Gesneriaceae, endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The botanical name comes from the Ancient Greek for 'bellflower'. They have white or pale pink flowers and somewhat fleshy leaves. In 2013, the genus was reduced in size when more than half of the species were transferred to Codonanthopsis. They can be grown as houseplants, particularly in hanging baskets. Artificial crosses with Nematanthus hybrids have produced the hybrid genus × Codonatanthus.
Microchirita is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, subfamily Didymocarpoideae.
Sanango is a genus of flowering plants containing a single species, Sanango racemosum. The genus was originally placed in family Loganiaceae but has since been variously placed in Scrophulariaceae, Gesneriaceae and Buddlejaceae. As of 2016 it is considered to be the sister genus to the family Gesneriaceae as previously defined, and the family was tentatively enlarged to include the genus, pending a revision of the families included in Lamiales. It has been placed as the only genus in the monotypic subfamily Sanangoideae.
Fieldia australiana is a species of flowering plant in the family Gesneriaceae. It is a small tree from eastern Australian rainforests. It has also been placed as the sole species in the monotypic genus Lenbrassia.
The Didymocarpoideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Gesneriaceae. It was formerly the subfamily Cyrtandroideae. This subfamily consists mostly of tropical and subtropical Old World genera, found in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. One species is native to Central and South America.
The Gesnerioideae are a subfamily of plants in the family Gesneriaceae: based on the type genus Gesneria. Although genera typically originate in the New World, some species have become widely distributed as ornamental plants.
Tetraphyllum is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Gesneriaceae. As of April 2021, there was no consensus as to whether the correct scientific name for the genus is Tetraphyllum or Tetraphylloides, some sources using the former and some the latter.
Codonanthopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae. Its native range is from southern Mexico through tropical America to Bolivia and most of Brazil. Codonanthopsis species are generally trailing epiphytes with pale flowers. Most have a mutualistic relationship with tree-living ants: the plants provide the ants with food, including nectar, and give their nests structure and support, while the ants disperse the plants' seeds. The genus was considerably expanded in 2013 when species were transferred from Codonanthe. Some Codonanthopsis species are cultivated as houseplants, when they may be grown in hanging baskets.
Coptocheile is a monotypic genus of flowering plants possibly belonging to the family Gesneriaceae. Its only species is Coptocheile macrorhiza. It is native to Brazil.
Lesia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, subfamily Gesnerioideae.
Fieldia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, native to New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria in Australia. It has at times been treated as monotypic, with one species, F. australis. Two are accepted as of April 2021 by sources that include Lenbrassia in Fieldia.
Rufodorsia is a genus of epiphytic flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae. The genus name refers to the reddish back of the upper lobes of the flower. The relationship of Rufodorsia with the genus Oerstedina is uncertain, as of April 2021. It is native to montane cloud forest in Central America.
Oerstedina is a genus of epiphytic flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, native to Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama. The relationship of Oerstedina to the genus Rufodorsia is uncertain, as of April 2021.
Moussonia is a genus of plants in the family Gesneriaceae. Its native range stretches from Mexico to Central America. It is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Panamá.
