Interesting Plant: Saintpaulia ‘Rebel’s Splatter Kake’
I never knew the Latin name for African Violets, even though my grandmother grew them religiously when I was growing up in Ohio. She had a 3-tier indoor planter covered with them. This particular Saintpaulia caught my eye in my travels though Pinterest and gave me and easy excuse and another entry for this Interesting Plant series.
Discovered via Pinterest user Ammar Aue
Saintpaulias, commonly known as African violets, are a genus of 6–20 species of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae, native toTanzania and adjacent southeastern Kenya in eastern tropical Africa. Typically the African violet is a common household indoor plant but can also be an outdoor plant. Several of the species and subspecies are endangered, and many more are threatened, due to their native cloud forest habitats being cleared for agriculture.
Saintpaulias grow from 6–15 cm tall and can be anywhere from 6–30 cm wide. The leaves are rounded to oval, 2.5–8.5 cm long with a 2–10 cm petiole, finely hairy, and have a fleshy texture. The flowers are 2–3 cm in diameter, with a five-lobed velvety corolla (“petals”), and grow in clusters of 3–10 or more on slender stalks called peduncles. Wild species can have violet, purple, pale blue, or white flowers. — Wikipedia.org
More information on Stenocarpus sinuatus:
- Saintpaulia at Wikipedia
- Saintpaulia fact sheet at Missouri Botanical Garden
- Saintpaulia at Auburn University
Previously in the Interesting Plant series:
- Passiflora (Passion flower)
- Firewheel Tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus)
- Anemone
- Allium Cowanii
- Symphyotrichum oblongifolius (Purple Aster)
- Hemerocallis ‘Derrick Cane’ (Daylily)
- Agastache ‘Aztec Rose’
- Rudbeckia hirta Moreno
- Kalanchoe Tomentosa
- Albuca namaquensis
- Hosta ‘Remember Me’
- Dahlia ‘Clair de Lune’
- Lovely silver-tinged fern on campus of Oberlin College, Ohio
- Tricolor Beech (Fagus sylvatica Purpurea Tricolor)
- Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala petiolaris)
- Eremurus ‘Lemon Meringue’
- Lupine “Sunrise” (Lupinus hartwegii)
- Chinese Fringe Flower (Loropetalum chinense)
- Streptocarpus ‘Harlequin Blue’
- Nigella damascena (love-in-a-mist, ragged lady)
- Epiphyllum (Orchid Cactus)
- Sempervivum ‘Westerlin’
- Gladiolus ‘Kings Lynn’
- Hosta sieboldiana ‘Dorothy Benedict’
- Begonia “Escargot”
- Asparagus Pea (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)
- Rosa banksiae (Lady Banks’ Rose)
- Primula ‘Victoriana Silver Laced Black’
- Oxalis versicolor
- Poached Egg Plant (Limnanthes douglasii)
- Parisian Carrots
- Fritillaria imperialis Rubra Maxima
- Clematis “Fascination”
- Swiss Chard “Bright Lights”
- Georgia Rattlesnake Melon
- Dianthus Barbathus “Green Ball” or “Green Trick”
- Coleus “Religious Radish”
- Black Forest Calla Lily
- Black Bamboo
Interesting Plant is a series from A Gardener’s Notebook blog and podcast that highlights the most interesting plants I find in my Internet and real-world travels — Douglas
Related posts:
Promo: Douglas interviewed on the Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener Podcast
Garden Inventory: Paperwhites (Narcissus papyraceus)
Video: The Peterson Garden Project in Chicago, Illinois
Garden Inventory: Podocarpus
Video: In the garden…August 21, 2013: Grass where I don’t want it, flowers where I do and checking in
In most gardens, annual plants are used to dress up flower beds and containers during the height of the growing season. Those gardeners in temperate zones tend to rely on annuals as they are designed to grow, flower and die within on growing season and therefore don’t require any special care or protection in order to overwinter. For myself, I don’t like the extra work required by annuals and prefer to plant perennial plants and shrubs whenever I can. Of course, here in Southern California, I would like to plant more native plants, many of which are annuals. These are often self-seeding, though, and that makes them almost a perennial if the conditions are right.
