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Gesneriaceae (from the genus Gesneria, named after the early botanist Conrad Gesner of Zurich). Gesneria Family. Fig. 53. Herbs, rarely shrubs or small trees, sometimes climbing: leaves usually opposite or whorled, simple: flowers bisexual, irregular, often bilabiate; calyx 5-parted; corolla 5-lobed, gamopetalous, hypogynous, often gibbous below, imbricated; stamens rarely 5, usually 4 and didynamous, rarely 2, the sterile usually present as staminodia, epipetalous; hypogynous disk present, diverse; ovary superior or inferior, of 2 carpels but 1-celled with 2 parietal placentae, often falsely 2-4-celled; ovules numerous; style 1; stigmas 1-2: fruit fleshy with pulpy placentae, or capsular, or silique-like with twisted valves.
Eighty-four genera and about 500 species are widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics of both hemispheres. The largest genera are Cyrtandra containing 180 species and Roettlera with about 100 species. The family is related to the Scrophulariaceae, Orobanchaceae and Bignoniaceae. The 1-celled ovary without winged seeds, and the non-parasitic habit are distinctive.
The only economic plants in the family are the ornamental, of which there are many. The flowers throughout the family are uncommonly large and showy.
Twenty or more genera are in cultivation in N. America. Among these are the following, all of greenhouse culture: Agalmyla, climbers; Episcia; Gesneria; Isoloma (Kohleria); Naegelia (Smithiantha); Saintpaulia (Usambara Violet; African Violet); Sinningia, including the Gloxinias; Streptocarpus (Cape Primrose); Trichosporum (or Aeschynanthus), trailing or drooping.
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