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Saintpaulia
Also called African violet, African Primrose, African Violets, Cape Primrose, Cape Primroses And African Violets, Plant, Plants
Saintpaulias, often called African violets, are small rosette-forming perennials from the cloud forests of eastern Africa and are grown mainly as houseplants. Keep them in bright indirect light and water from below or at the soil level, avoiding wet leaves.
Streptocarpus sect. Saintpaulia is a section within Streptocarpus subgenus Streptocarpella consisting of about ten species of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, native to Tanzania and adjacent southeastern Kenya in eastern tropical Africa. The section was previously treated as a separate genus, Saintpaulia, but molecular phylogenetic studies showed that it was nested within the genus Streptocarpus.
Species and cultivars are commonly called African violets (although they are not closely related to true violets) or saintpaulias. They are commonly sold as house plants.
Saintpaulias are widely cultivated as house plants. Until recently, only a few of the ten or so species that exist have been used in breeding programs for the hybrids available in the market; most of the cultivars available as house plants are derived from Streptocarpus ionanthus (syn. S. kewensis). A wider range of species is now being looked at as sources of genes to introduce into modern cultivars.
The African Violet Society of America is the International Cultivar Registration Authority for the section and its cultivars.
Saintpaulias are native to eastern tropical Africa. There is a concentration of species in the Nguru mountains of Tanzania.
Streptocarpus glandulosissimus · Streptocarpus goetzeanus · Streptocarpus inconspicuus · African Violet · False African Violet · Cape primrose
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Streptocarpus sect. Saintpaulia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
