Sinningias and Friends
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Sinningias and Friends

Sinningia leucotricha

Welcome to the SINNINGIA FRIENDS web site.  It is intended to provide the sinningia grower with a bit of botanical and horticultural information.  It's not scholarship, though -- it's just pictures and observations and opinions, plus facts I got from others!

This project had its origin in an educational display (designed and formatted by Debra LaVergne) about Sinningia tubers at the 2003 American Gloxinia and Gesneriad Society convention in Sacramento.

This site is dedicated to the memory of Hans Wiehler and the Gesneriad Research Foundation.




Highlights
What's new Pictures and text added in recent weeks
Overview
 Quick summary of the genus Sinningia
Relationships
 A taxonomical survey of sinningia, paliavana, and vanhouttea species
Key
 A horticulturally oriented key to the species of sinningia, paliavana, and vanhouttea, which may help in identifying some of them.
Tubers
 Debra's original educational exhibit
Growing tips
 Horticultural advice?  From me?  Good luck...


Rio das Pedras

Pictures    

The emphasis is on showing instructive features of the plants.  I have tried to use attractive pictures whenever possible, but on some occasions I have used less-than-perfect pictures of less-than-beautiful plants when they showed some important aspect of the plant.

Also, I'm teaching myself photography, by trial and error.  We can hope that the pictures will get better as I get more experience!


Coverage

Almost all of this material relates to species.  There are too many hybrids, particularly of S. speciosa and the miniatures, for me to discuss in the space and time available.  Also, I don't grow very many.



Content

Sources and Acknowledgments
Pictures Unless otherwise noted, all pictures on this site are mine, of my own plants.  Links to other sites are clearly marked as such.
Botanical information Among the many sources, the ones I have used most extensively are
  • The papers of Alain Chautems and co-authors.  Particularly useful was the paper by Perret et al. on Sinningieae taxonomy.  See a partial list of references.
  • Mauro Peixoto's web site
  • Ron Myhr's Gesneriad Reference Web
  • The Sinningia Register (1988) of the Gesneriad Society (formerly the AGGS)
  • Gesneriana, Volume 1 (and only), Number 1 (and, alas, only)
Many many thanks to those who helped make this information (and so much plant material) available!
Publication information Here I have relied heavily on the Smithsonian's Gesneriad Checklist, compiled and maintained by John Boggan and Lawrence Skog.

I have also used the AGGS Sinningia Register mentioned above, and The Plant-Book by D. J. Mabberley.
Cold hardiness information Unless otherwise indicated, all the cold tolerance data on this site is from my own experience.  Since northern California winters are not as stern a test for sinningia tubers and plants as other climes, I would be grateful for information which indicated the extremes that the Sinningieae could and could not tolerate.  This would be especially useful for the non-tuberous species.




Sinningia guttata

Why Sinningias Are Special

Ornamental Value

Many of the sinningia species are attractive just the way they are.  A short listing of species that will appeal to all:

Sinningia leucotricha (foliage)
Sinningia guttata (flowers)
Sinningia douglasii (flowers)
Sinningia speciosa (flowers, of course!)
Sinningia sp. "Rio das Pedras" (miniature with good markings)

Horticultural Value and Hybridizing Potential

Some sinningias (like S. douglasii) have a very short blooming season, but others, like S. amambayensis and the hybrids of S. reitzii, bloom for many months.  Therefore it would seem that some sinningias would have potential as breeding parents for bedding plants.  Imagine a bed of plants with S. leucotricha foliage and S. cardinalis flowers!

Ecological Significance

Many gesneriads grow in places which are threatened by habitat destruction, and sinningias are no exception.  The type species (the species which defines the genus Sinningia), S. helleri, is probably extinct already!  As far as anybody knows, Sinningia concinna exists only in cultivation (and since it is not easy to grow, it is fragile there too).

Therefore keeping a sinningia alive is a contribution to maintaining the diversity of plant life on this planet.

Fragrance

Sinningia tubiflora flowers have a wonderful fragrance.  This species would be much more popular if it were easier to bloom.  Sinningia conspicua blooms easily and has a more subtle lemony snicket, I mean, scent.  A few species have very delicate, nose-of-the-beholder aromas (such as S. guttata).  Finally, several sinningias with waxy leaves have scented foliage (S. aggregata, S. amambayensis, S. carangolensis, for example).

Nectaries Amusement

Need I say more?

Nutritional Value

Baked sinningia tubers with sour cream?  Scalloped sulcata?  Guttata frittata?  Macrophylla fries?

I've always wondered about the edibility of the tubers.  Perhaps they are a wonderful source of vitamin B-52.  Sooner or later, somebody will get around to looking at their nutritional value, but they won't have a chance unless we keep them alive.


Gesneriad Groups in Northern California

Peninsula Gesneriad Society

The Peninsula Gesneriad Society serves the Silicon Valley area of California, from San Mateo to San Jose to Gilroy.  We usually meet in a member's home, at 7:30 pm, on the second Thursday of the month.  Contact me for information.

San Francisco Gesneriad Society

The San Francisco group usually meets in what was, in happier days, the Hall of Flowers building in Golden Gate Park.  The regular meeting date is the third Sunday of the month.  Meeting time is 1:00 pm.  The Gesneriad Society site (link below) will have a contact.

Related Gesneriad Links

The sites I have used heavily in the preparation of this site have links above.

The Gesneriad Society offers many services to growers, including an excellent Seed Fund and a highly entertaining and instructive annual convention.

Carlynn Scott has an excellent web site with information on Streptocarpus species and hybrids, far more comprehensive than what I've done here for sinningia.  It's a very attractive and well-organized resource.  Check it out!.

For more links, see the related links page on the Gesneriad Society web site.