Family: Gesneriaceae
Common Name: Gloxinia

Originating in tropical America, these beautiful plants often have attractive foliage, but they are mainly grown for their striking flowers, which come in shades of red, blue, purple and pink, sometimes spotted or fringed with white. Outside the subtropics or tropics, they are grown as pot plants in the warm greenhouse. They also make good house plants, best on a light windowsill. Most sinningias are deciduous perennials, growing from tubers and dying down in winter. However, there are some deciduous or evergreen, shrubby species. Most flower during the summer, the blooms typically being bell- or trumpet-shaped.

Species

S. canescens (Synonym: S. leucotricha) is an upright grower with woolly, silver foliage and stems. Salmon to orange-red or pink flowers appear in small clusters in summer.

S. cardinalis, cardinal flower, has hairy leaves marked with a darker green around the veins. The scarlet flowers are tubular and appear on short stalks above the foliage.

S. regina, violet slipper or Cinderella slipper, from Brazil, has dark, velvety green leaves, veined in white above but red underneath. The violet flowers have a long, open bell shape.

S. speciosa, florists' gloxinia, bears violet to red or white flowers in the wild, but a wider range of colours, including spotted varieties, in cultivation. Most of the florists' gloxinias are hybrids of S. speciosa. Their large, bell-shaped flowers have a rich range of colours.

Cultivation

The tubers of perennial sinningias are started into growth in early spring. Put them into trays of moist peat or peat substitute and provide plenty of warmth. When shoots appear, pot up tubers individually, using soilless potting compost. Plants need good light (but shade from direct sun), and a very humid atmosphere. In autumn, the tubers are gradually dried off and stored over winter in a cooler place, and kept completely dry. Sinningias can also be raised from seed sown in spring and germinated at 21°C (70°F). Do not cover with compost. Another propagation method is from leaf cuttings in spring or summer, in a heated propagating case.

Climate

Warmest parts of zone 10 or tropical.

Gloxinia