Gesnera leopoldi Scheidw. ex Planch.

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘Seen in Mr. van Houtte’s establishment’ by a correspondent of the Floricultural Cabinet, ‘Gesneria Leopoldii: The handsomest of the genus.  The flowers are large, in long spikes, of a rich scarlet crimson.’  [FC p.104/1852].  It was figured in Louis van Houtte’s publication Flore des Serres [FS f. 704-705/1852.  FS f.1042/1855].  The Floricultural Cabinet gave a more detailed description in 1853: ‘It belongs to the section of G. tuberosa.  The leaves are very pretty, long, oval, green above, and a rich rosy-purple beneath. the flower stem rises a foot high, terminating in a cymose panicle of 20 or more beautiful blossoms.  The tube is about an inch and a half long, of a red-orange-scarlet.  The inside of the mouth has 3 rich dark spots, below which the inside of the tube is white.’  [FC p.54/1853].

History at Camden Park

Listed only as an addendum to the 1857 catalogue [A.51/1857].

Notes

Possibly a hybrid, with Gesneria lobulata as one parent.

Gesneria lobulata Hort. ex Hanst. (c.1840) = Gesneria bulbosa var. macrorhiza (Dumort.) Klotzsch.  Gesneria lobulata was mentioned in a discussion of the relationship between G. purpurea and G. douglassii in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine.