Edit Plant: African violet

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Taxonomy:	Genus and species are usually defined, subspecies and cultivar/variety often don't even exist and are left blank. Familia: Genus: Species: Subspecies: Cultivar/Variety: Taxo author:
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Growth habit:	Reference: (please add the name of your source for the growth habit type in the reference field)
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Origin:	(briefly write native areas) Reference:
Poisonous:	(briefly write if parts are poisonous) Reference:
Lifespan:	perennial annual biennial unknown (only choose one if species or cultivar) Reference:
Exposure:	sun part-sun shade unknown Reference: Need Help?
Water:	wet moist moderate dry less when dormant Reference:
Features:	evergreen deciduous flowers fragrance edible fruit naturalizes invasive foliage birds wildlife bees bonsai cut flowers hummingbirds butterflys drought tolerant houseplant fall color ground cover fire resistant
Flower season:	early spring mid spring late spring early summer mid summer late summer early fall mid fall late fall early winter mid winter late winter Reference:
Flower features:	red orange yellow green blue purple brown black multicolored pink white single double spotted everblooming
Minimum temp:	(only need either C or F) Reference:
Lowest USDA zone:	None 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5 12 Reference: Need Help?
Highest USDA zone:	None 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5 12 Need Help?
Sunset zones:	(use National book, or indicate which was used- SSN, SSW, etc)
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Saintpaulias are widely cultivated as [[house plant]]s. Hairy often stemless perennial herbs, used for greenhouse flowering, the blossoms providing an attractive blue, violet, purple, white, pink and even green. Flowers can be single or double, solid or striped. "Wasp" type flowers have the upper two flower petals independently fused forming a tube. There are also compound leaves on some, that are called "bustled". Over 2,000 cultivars have been selected, with a very wide variety of flower and leaf colors, shapes, sizes, patterns and textures. Cultivars are classified as Large, Standard, Trailing, Semi-mini, Mini, and Micro with Micro being the smallest. Leaves long-petioled, ovate: peduncles radical (or axillary in the caulescent species), 1-5 in. high, bearing several (or 1) fls. in a loose cyme: calyx small, deeply 5-lobed; corolla wide-campanulate, tube short, the lobes elliptic, blue; perfect stamens 2; ovary hairy: caps, oblong, locuhcidally 2-valved; seeds small, ellipsoid. {{Inc| Saintpaulia (from the discoverer of the plant, Baron Walter von Saint Paul). Gesneriaceae. Hairy often stemless perennial herbs, used for greenhouse flowering, the blossoms providing an attractive blue. Leaves long-petioled, ovate: peduncles radical (or axillary in the caulescent species), 1-5 in. high, bearing several (or 1) fls. in a loose cyme: calyx small, deeply 5-lobed; corolla wide-campanulate, tube short, the lobes elliptic, blue; perfect stamens 2; ovary hairy: caps, oblong, loculicidally 2-valved; seeds small, ellipsoid.—Four species, Trop. Afr. The end of March is a good time to propagate saintpaulias, when the ripened leaves should be cut off with about an inch of the stalk attached, and inserted in the sand-bed, covering only a small part of the leaf-blade. The sand should not be kept too wet during the process of rooting. Their propagation from seed and general culture is similar to that of gloxinia. The plants may be flowered the entire year or given a period of rest by partly withholding water. S. pusilla, and S. Goetzeana, of East Africa, appear not to be in cult. }} ==Cultivation== African violets prefer a constant temperature between 20-25 °C (68-77 °F) with high humidity, and thrive best planted in well-drained humus or coir compost. Most nurseries and garden shops sell African Violet potting soil in ready-to-go bags. The plants may be flowered the entire year or given a period of rest by partly withholding water. Saintpaulias should be watered from underneath, and misting should be avoided, as water coming in contact with the leaves can cause damage. ===Propagation=== Saintpaulias can be propagated by leaf cuttings (essential for propagating named cultivars) or seed (from which new cultivars are selected). The end of March is a good time to propagate saintpaulias, when the ripened leaves should be cut off with about an inch of the stalk attached, and inserted in the sand-bed, covering only a small part of the leaf-blade. The sand should not be kept too wet during the process of rooting. Their propagation from seed and general culture is similar to that of gloxinia. ===Pests and diseases=== {{edit-pests}} ==Species== On the basis of recent studies that showed most of the species to be very poorly differentiated, both genetically and morphologically, the number of species has been reduced to 6, with the majority of former species reduced to subspecies under S. ionantha, in a recent floristic treatment (Darbyshire 2006).{{wp}} *''[[Saintpaulia inconspicua]]'' *''[[Saintpaulia goetzeana]]'' *''Saintpaulia ionantha'' (syn. ''S. kewensis'') **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''grandifolia'' (syn. S. grandifolia) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''grotei'' (syn. S. amaniensis, S. confusa, S. difficilis, S. grotei, S. magungensis, S. magungensis var. minima) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''ionantha'' var ''diplotricha'' (syn. S. diplotricha) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''ionantha'' var ''ionantha'' (syn. S. tongwensis) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''nitida'' (syn. S. nitida) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''occidentalis'' (syn. S. magungensis var. occidentalis) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''orbicularis'' (syn. S. orbicularis) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''pendula'' (syn. S. intermedia, S. pendula, S. pendula var. kizarae) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''rupicola'' (syn. S. rupicola) **''Saintpaulia ionantha'' ssp. ''velutina'' (syn. S. brevipilosa, S. velutina) *''[[Saintpaulia pusilla]]'' *''[[Saintpaulia shumensis]]'' *''[[Saintpaulia teitensis]]'' ==Gallery== <gallery> Image:Paola-2955.jpg Image:Loui says this is the best photo-5598.jpg Image:African violet-8046.jpg Image:Acariciar la luz-4667.jpg Image:African violet (23)-6615.jpg Image:African violet (9)-1731.jpg Image:African violet (8)-2572.jpg Image:African Violets Rooting-6113.jpg Image:P1000676.JPG-4186.jpg Image:IMG 0138.JPG-8821.jpg Image:IMG 0145.JPG-1520.jpg Image:IMG 0141.JPG-869.jpg </gallery> ==References==    ==External links== *{{wplink}} *[http://www.avsa.org African Violet Society of America website] *[http://avsc.ca African Violet Society of Canada website] *[http://www.saintpauliasallskapet.se Swedish African Violet Society website] *[http://www.saintpaulia.fi Finnish Saintpaulia Society website] *[http://gesneriads.ca/saintart.htm Gesneriad Reference Web Saintpaulia article] __NOTOC__

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