Tooting my own horn: Seemannia 'Little Red'

Seemannia 'Little Red' in my Washington, DC garden

I haven't worked with gesneriads for a couple of years so I got a bit of a thrill this morning when I found one of my own hybrids, Seemannia 'Little Red', listed for sale in the Fall 2015 catalog of Plant Delights Nursery.  Plant Delights is considered one of the premier nurseries for rare and unusual plants, so having one of my plants listed is a pretty big deal.

×Gloximannia 'She's Dancing'

 

What the heck is a ×Gloximannia?  (The "×" or multiplication sign, indicating an intergeneric hybrid, is not pronounced.)  In a previous blog post I discussed the gesneriad genus Seemannia, a close relative of Gloxinia.  Although these two genera look very different, they are closely enough related that their respective species can be easily crossed to produce viable hybrids.  And what do you get if you cross the two genera?  The nothogenus (hybrid genus) ×Gloximannia, of course.  To the best of my knowledge, only Gloxinia perennis has been used from that genus and the hybrids tend to take after this parent.  Neither of the other two species--Gloxinia erinoides and Gloxinia xanthophylla--have yet been crossed with any Seemannia species; it would be very interesting to see how such hybrids would turn out.

Seemannia: a gesneriad with commercial potential

Seemannia 'Little Red'

Seemannia is a small South American genus in the same family (Gesneriaceae) as african violets and gloxinias (and until recently Seemannia was included in the genus Gloxinia).  The species and a few hybrids (primarily my own) are in very limited cultivation, but I believe that with a bit of tweaking they may have some commercial potential as bedding and container plants.  (Photo: Seemannia 'Little Red', one of my own hybrids)