Gloxinia (genus)
Gloxinia is a genus containing three species of tropical rhizomatous herbs in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. The species are primarily found in the Andes of South America, but "Gloxinia perennis" is also found in Central America and the West Indies, where it has probably escaped from cultivation. "Gloxinia perennis" is the original (type) species of the genus, and for much of its history the genus consisted of only "G. perennis" and a very small number of other species. The classification of "Gloxinia" later changed reflect the 1976 classification of Hans Wiehler, who took a broader view of  the genus. A recent analysis of "Gloxinia" and related genera based on molecular and morphological work has determined that Wiehler's circumscription of the genus was unnatural, both phylogenetically and morphologically. The analyses demonstrated that the genera "Anodiscus" and "Koellikeria", each with a single species, were more closely related to "Gloxinia perennis" than were any of the other species included in "Gloxinia" by Wiehler, several of which proved to be more closely related to other genera (particularly "Diastema", "Monopyle", and "Phinaea"). As a result of this work, most former "Gloxinia" species have been transferred to other genera while "Koellikeria erinoides  and Anodiscus xanthophyllus" have been transferred into a much more narrowly defined "Gloxinia" consisting of only three species, all of them characterized by having a raceme-like flowering stem. Former "Gloxinia" species have been transferred to a large number of other genera, including the existing genera "Monopyle" and "Sinningia", the resurrected genera "Mandirola" and "Seemannia", and the new genera "Gloxinella", "Gloxiniopsis", "Nomopyle", and "Sphaerorrhiza". "Gloxinia perennis" forms fertile hybrids with species of "Seemannia", which was the primary reason for uniting the two genera in the past. "Sinningia speciosa", a popular houseplant, was originally described and introduced into cultivation as "Gloxinia  speciosa" and is still sometimes referred to as "gloxinia" or "florist's gloxinia", although this name is now inaccurate and technically incorrect. Similarly, "hardy gloxinia" is "Incarvillea delavayi", a member of the Bignoniaceae. References and external links. Specific