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I can't resist African Violets, I wish I could grow them but I don't have a chance. Every now and then I buy them just to
enjoy for the summer season. In 2012 the genus Saintpaulia was absorbed by Streptocarpus and the shift has not been greeted with tumultuous applause. Dark mutterings can be heard. At the same time all of the species of the former Saintpaulia were reduced to subspecies or varieties of Streptocarpus ionanthus. More dark mutterings. Plants of the World online say: "The native range of this species is E. & SW. Tanzania. It is a lithophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome. It is has environmental uses and as a medicine." Larry Hodgson, the Laidback Gardener said: "This plant has been known as Saintpaulia ionantha, in honor of its discoverer, Baron Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire, since 1892. However, recent genetic studies now place this gesneriad in a different genus, Streptocarpus, more specifically in the subgenus Streptocarpella. The typical African violet you grow in your home, typically a hybrid, would now be called legitimately called Streptocarpus ionanthus followed by its cultivar name in simple parentheses. The two leading authorities on gesneriad nomenclature, The African Violet Society of America and The Gesneriad Society, both propose to continue to use the name Saintpaulia in non-scientific texts, but without italics." (Declaration: No botanists were snubbed in the preparation of this article). |
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