Addisonia 29 



(Plate 95) 



SINNINGIA SPECIOSA 



Maximilian's Ligeria 



Native of Brazil 



Family Gesn^riacea^ Gesneria Family 



Sinnin^ia speciosa Hiern, Vidensk. Meddel. 1877-8: 91. 1877. 



Gloxinia speciosa Lodd. Bot. Cab. pi. 28. 1817. 



Ligeria maximiliana Hanstein, in Martius, Fl. Bras. 8*: 387. 1864. 



Stemless or nearly so. The basal leaves are often numerous, 

 forming broad rosettes, short-petioled, the blades ovate to oblong, 

 two to six inches long, softly pubescent on both sides, acute, 

 obtusely crenate, bright green above, very pale beneath. The 

 two or more peduncles are strict, two to four inches long, pubescent. 

 The five calyx-lobes are greenish, lanceolate, acuminate, pubescent, 

 one half to two thirds of an inch long ; there are five ovate glands at 

 the ^bottom of the calyx-tube. The corolla is tubular, and either 

 pendent or horizontal, one and one half to two inches long, some- 

 what curved, purple, with five broad, short, spreading or reflexed 

 lobes. 



This plant comes from Eastern Brazil, where it was collected by 

 J. N. Rose near Cabo Frio, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, August 8, 

 1915. Several tubers were sent to the New York Botanical Garden 

 which have since produced flowers repeatedly and profusely. The 

 plant has also fruited and from the seed a number of other speci- 

 mens have been obtained. 



This species has been known in cultivation since early in the 

 nineteenth century as Gloxinia speciosa, but it is generally accepted 

 that it is not congeneric with the original species of that genus, 

 namely, G. maculata. It will however always be best known in the 

 trade under that name. To botanists it is now generally known 

 as a Sinningia although it has also passed as a species of Ligeria. 

 Sinningia and its related genera contain many ornamental species 

 and deserve a re-study under modern taxonomic method from 

 living plants preferably in some tropical garden like that at Rio de 

 Janeiro, Brazil. Sinningia speciosa has undergone many changes 

 in cultivation especially as to the color, shape and size of the 

 flowers, while a number of species in several genera described from 

 wild plants have been referred to it. Consequently the number of 

 synonyms both for indigens and for cultigens is considerable. The 



