Gloxinia is the old name--they have been Sinningias for some time now. (When the society for gesneriads was formed it was originally the gloxinia society, then it was the gloxinia and gesneriad society, and now it is the gesneriad society!) Yours is a beautiful hybrid of Sinningia speciosa, but I don't know its name. Maybe someone else will.

Thank you, I had no idea. I'll try searching for sinningias this time, maybe i'll find more info.

Actually (my nephews' favorite word), "Gloxinia" is the botanical name for another group of gesneriads, the "true gloxinias". However, our own Johnnie_B is currently doing his best to chop up that genus into a bunch of other genera under the guise of taxonomy. He can do that, he's a botanist. However the true gloxinias will live on, albeit in a smaller genus of only a few species.

Meanwhile the correct common name for your plant is "Florist Gloxinia". "Gloxinia", therefore, is the common name for "Florist Gloxinia" which is the common name for Sinningia speciosa, which is.........what it is. So, when you do your searches and come up with a totally different plant called Gloxinia sylvatica, now you'll know that it is one of those true gloxinias (but not for long!). It will become something else (sneak preview: Seemannia sylvatica, an old name being resurrected).

Speciosas have been in popular cultivation since the early nineteenth century. They were originally placed in the genus, gloxinia, but only for a few years. However, that was before the advent of the Internet, so the name stuck like epoxy and we are still stuck with it. The natural forms of the species have slipper shaped flowers, that nod downward or to the side. The typical Florist Glox has an upright bell shaped flower, the result of a mutation that was discovered in the latter 19th century and bred into hybrids ever since. However, in cultivation there have always been slipper shaped hybrids as well as natural forms.

At one time there were many named hybrids being grown and propagated. But, they have largely disappeared, either as plants now extinct or as plants with the names intact. But, there are many seed strains and seedling gloxinias being grown commercially. So, chances are, your plant doesn't have a cultivar name. From the 50's to the 80's Buells Nursery grew, sold and hybridized fantastic Gloxinias, naming many fine hybrids. Sadly these cultivars are mostly all gone now. People just didn't keep them going, even though a given tuber can live for many years under good culture. Also, these plants are very easy to propagate vegetatively (by leaves or stem cuttings), making it easy to produce dozens, if not hundreds, of identical copies of a selected original. Seed will not come true, but will produce a very nice selection of colors.

Lots of information can be found here in old posts and much much more can be found on the florist gloxinia forum on the AGGS website at www.aggs.org. AGGS is now The Gesneriad Society. So, enjoy your plant and hopefully you can bring it back into bloom on its next go-round, and for years to come.

Jon

Thank you Jon, for all the info on this plant. When I get a new plant, I try to learn as much as I can about it. You've been very helpful.

"Gloxinia" is the common name for the species known by the botanical name Sinningia speciosa. It was originally introduced in 1817 as Gloxinia speciosa, back when few gesneriads were known, only a few genera had yet been named, and the genus "Gloxinia" was used in a wider sense than it is now. Gloxinia speciosa proved so popular that the generic name became the universally accepted common name, even after the species was subsequently transferred to 2 or 3 different genera (quite a few years later--it didn't become Sinningia speciosa until 1877, after having spent a few years under the now-obscure name Ligeria speciosa).

BTW "florist gloxinia" is a name invented by botanists to try to distinguish Sinningia speciosa from the "true" gloxinias (Gloxinia perennis, a species not very widely known or grown outside gesneriad society circles), but I have yet to see "florist gloxinia" in any catalog or on any label in a nursery or flower shop--it's always just "gloxinia". It's a bit confusing, but no more so than the "mimosas" that grow all over the southeastern United States, or the tender "geraniums" that are so widely grown as annuals!

Thanks John for correcting my history. I thought it was a gloxinia for only a few years. I must be thinking of some other plant with a common misnomer name. I was just being "very correct" in calling it "Florist Gloxinia", as I thought it was ironic that this plant therefore would have a common name for its common name. I guess "Glox" would be the nickname for the common name for the common name for Sinningia speciosa, formerly Ligeria speciosa, formerly Gloxinia speciosa. How's that? ;) Did I leave out any other names for this one?

Since certain botanists who will remain nameless have suggested that sinningia as an inclusive genus has some problems that may someday lead to a break up into a group of related genera, would this one then, if it is decided that it should be a separate genus, become Ligeria speciosa again? After all, it does have a very different flower size, habit of growth and hybridizing pattern than other sinns, and doesn't make fertile hybrids with other species as far as I know.

Jon, just providing cannon fodder...

Thanks John for correcting my history. I thought it was a gloxinia for only a few years. I must be thinking of some other plant with a common misnomer name. I was just being "very correct" in calling it "Florist Gloxinia", as I thought it was ironic that this plant therefore would have a common name for its common name. I guess "Glox" would be the nickname for the common name for the common name for Sinningia speciosa, formerly Ligeria speciosa, formerly Gloxinia speciosa. How's that? ;) Did I leave out any other names for this one?

Since certain botanists who will remain nameless have suggested that sinningia as an inclusive genus has some problems that may someday lead to a break up into a group of related genera, would this one then, if it is decided that it should be a separate genus, become Ligeria speciosa again? After all, it does have a very different flower size, habit of growth and hybridizing pattern than other sinns, and doesn't make fertile hybrids with other species as far as I know.

Jon, just providing cannon fodder...

I recently found them at Walmart also and fell in love with them. I think they're gorgeous and they blooming very well, but unfortunately we have alot of rabbits in our neighborhood that also love them. Does anyone have any advice about how to keep them away so I can enjoy my flowers? Any advice is much appreciated!

Florist gloxinia is commonly grown as a house plant. So no neighbourhood wild rabbits should sneak in your house to munch on it. If you have a bunch of pet rabbits... We didn't hear from Nikki from Chicago for sometime - but someway she managed to grow fabulous gesneriads - and have several rabbits in a household. I guess some kind of netting around the plant shelf will help.

Good luck