Overview
Interesting Facts
Description
Family Gesneriaceae
Herbs, shrubs
, or rarely trees
. Leaves opposite or rarely alternate, whorled
or basal, rosette forming; exstipulate
; usually simple
, rarely shallowly to deeply lobed
, pinnately or rarely palmately veined. Inflorescences usually cymes, rarely racemes
, axillary
, often near apex and appearing terminal
; usually pedunculate
. Flowers perfect
, zygomorphic, seldom actinomorphic
. Calyx actinomorphic, rarely zygomorphic; usually (4 or) 5-divided. Corolla gamopetalous, zygomorphic, rarely actinomorphic; usually 2-lipped. Fertile
stamens 2 or 4, then often didynamous
, rarely 5, epipetalous
; anthers
free
or coherent, thecae 2, parallel, divergent, or divaricate
; staminodes 1-3 or absent. Disc ringlike to cupular, rarely absent. Ovary superior in all Old World taxa [half inferior, or inferior], 1-loculed; gynophore
seldom present; placentas (1 or) 2, parietal
, rarely 2-loculed, placenta 1 per locule and axile
; ovules numerous
, anatropous
. Style 1; stigmas 1 or 2. Fruit usually capsular
, loculicidal, septicidal
, or circumscissile, rarely a berry, indehiscent. Seeds numerous, fusiform
to ellipsoid
or ovoid
, minute, sometimes with appendages
at 1 or both ends, with or without endosperm; embryo straight, cotyledons equal or unequal after germination.
About 133 genera and 3000 species: Africa, Central and South America, E and S Asia, S Europe, Oceania; 56 genera (25 endemic) and 442 species (354 endemic) in China.
A few foreign well-known ornamental species
are cultivated in China, including the florist's gloxinia, Sinningia speciosa (Loddiges) Hiern, and African violet, Saintpaulia ionantha Wendland.
The two ovary carpels may each produce
a stigma; these stigmas are fused into a single structure. Some students of Gesneriaceae have considered the stigma to be single and either simple (capitate) or 2-lobed, whereas others consider each of the two stigmas as units
. We have maintained the latter usage
, but a family-wide investigation of stigma development is needed. The distinction can be blurred, however, because the stigmas may be completely fused into one with a capitate apex (as in Didymocarpus) or one of the two carpels or stigmas may be aborted resulting in a single stigma that may or may not be 2-lobed.[1]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Asteridae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Lamianae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Lamiales
()
- Bromhead, 1838
- Family:
Gesneriaceae
()
- Richard & Jussieu, 1804 ex Richard & Jussieu, in A.P. de Candolle, 1816, nom. cons.
- gesnerias
- Genus:
Brachyloma
()
- Specific epithet:
rhodomallon
- Hanst.
- Botanical name: - Brachyloma rhodomallon Hanst.
- Specific epithet:
rhodomallon
- Hanst.
- Genus:
Brachyloma
(
- Family:
Gesneriaceae
(
- Order:
Lamiales
(
- Superorder:
Lamianae
(
- Subclass:
Asteridae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Synonyms
Kohleria Rhodomallos
Notes
Publishing author : Hanst. Publication : Linnaea 29: 526 1859
Similar Species
Members of the genus Brachyloma
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Hanstein, Johannes (1858a): Die Gesneraceen des Königlichen Herbariums und der Gärten zu Berlin, II: Gattungen & Arten - 2: Brachylomaten - Linnaea29, pp. 497-592
- Wang Wentsai, Pan Kaiyu, & Li Zhenyu. 1990. Gesneriaceae. In: Wang Wentsai, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 69: 125-581.
Notes
Contributors
- The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Dec 27, 2011.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3409277
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15502016
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:378436-1
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 324923-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 722437
Footnotes
- Wencai Wang, Kai-yu Pan, Zhen-yu Li, Anna L. Weitzman & Laurence E. Skog "Gesneriaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 18 Page 244. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
