''Streptocarpus rexii'' is a South African plant in the family

Gesneriaceae Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), wi ...

, occurring widely from the southern Cape along the coastal hills, mountains, wooded ravines and valleys, and moist forests of the east coast, through

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

as far north as the

Eastern Transvaal Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique ...

, up to an altitude of about 900 m. This genus of epiphytes and lithophytes, of about 130 species, is mainly

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n and

Mascarene The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Thei ...

, with four vagrant species in Asia. ''Streptocarpus'', as do other Old World Gesneriaceae, is unusual in that it displays anisocotylous or unequal growth, i.e. one cotyledon continues to grow after germination.

James Bowie James Bowie ( ) ( – March 6, 1836) was a 19th-century American pioneer, slave smuggler and trader, and soldier who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He was among the Americans who died at the Battle of the Alamo. Stories of h ...

, the

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

's botanical collector, first collected specimens and seeds of this plant in 1818 near

Knysna Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 47 ...

on the estates of George Rex and sent these to

, asking that the plant be named after the legendary Rex. It was consequently named ''Didymocarpus rexii'' by William Jackson Hooker. John Lindley disagreed with Hooker's classification, creating a new genus and renaming the plant ''Streptocarpus rexii'' when he published plate 1173 in the 1828 edition of ''

The Botanical Register ''The Botanical Register'', subsequently known as ''Edwards's Botanical Register'', was an illustrated horticultural magazine that ran from 1815 to 1847. It was started by the botanical illustrator Sydenham Edwards, who had previously illustrat ...

''. The botanist

Gustav Heynhold Gustav Heynhold (or ''Gustav Heinhold''; 1800–1860) was a German botanist who worked at the botanic gardens of Dresden and Frankfurt. In 1828 he was in Trieste where he carried out mapping and published "Uebersicht der Vegetation in den Umgebun ...

also became involved and in 1840 published it as ''Henckelia rexii'' Heynh. in '' Nomenclator Botanicus Hortensis''. ''Streptocarpus rexii'' is a stemless herb growing to a height of about , and forming a rosette of velvety, strap-shaped leaves that are up to long. Each leaf grows separately from the base of the plant, becoming an individual plant with its own roots and inflorescence. The fruit is a spirally-twisted two-valved capsule releasing minute seeds when mature. This species' showy flowers led to its being used as a parent in a spate of hybridisation starting in 1886, and resulting in a multitude of descendants with larger flowers and a wider range of colours. Both ''S. rexii'' and its hybrids proved to need little pampering in the gardens of Europe and the United States, making them perennially popular. Their resistance to dry conditions makes them ideal subjects for hanging baskets in greenhouses. As in ''Streptocarpus'' sect. ''Saintpaulia'', propagation is readily done from leaf cuttings that are best taken in spring and early summer. Any sterile medium may be used provided it is well drained. The tips of the leaves will discolour and break off along

abscission Abscission () is the shedding of various parts of an organism, such as a plant dropping a leaf, fruit, flower, or seed. In zoology, abscission is the intentional shedding of a body part, such as the shedding of a claw, husk, or the autotomy of a ...

lines if stressed by cold or prolonged drought, though overwatering will encourage fungal growth. ''Streptocarpus'' rhizomes show the presence of sterols, organic acids and

phenols In organic chemistry, phenols, sometimes called phenolics, are a class of chemical compounds consisting of one or more hydroxyl groups (— O H) bonded directly to an aromatic hydrocarbon group. The simplest is phenol, . Phenolic compounds are ...

.''Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa'' - Watt & Brandwijk (E&S Livingstone, 1962)

Notes

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7623337 rexii Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Flora of the Northern Provinces