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My SIL was told to treat this plant as you would and African Violet. The person she got it from did not know the name.

A close up of the pale lavender flowers which were a little more than an inch across. Any ideas on what it is?

This message was edited Jun 13, 2011 12:05 PM

It kind of looks like a Streptocarpella,but I'm not sure.

It certainly is Streptocarpus subg. Streptocarpella. Treat it like you would an AV or Strep and it'll be fine. They make wonderful hanging baskets.

You can check out a selection of species and cultivars on Ron Myhr's fabulous website:

http://gesneriads.ca/genstrep.htm

The problem is to pin down the exact species/cultivar since there are many, many lookalikes.

yup ive got a few of them,4 i think,i have to restart mine every year,pretty little things

Thanks, you are right about there being so many subspecies. I did not see any with the thick, fleshy leaves like my SIL's plant but the flower is a dead give away now that I see the others and in many cases the leaves were not shown.

Try looking here: http://www.google.com/search?q=streptocarpella&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&prmd=ivnsfd&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=g4z2TaH5B8Hd0QGfuZTsDA&ved=0CCgQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=793

Great pictures! It closely resembles what is called a Streptacarpella Streptocarpus saxorum on Google. Some of the pictures here on PlantFiles do not look similar but there are probably many varieations.

Streptocarpus saxorum, or at least some of it genes, seems likely since it is a widely grown plant that has been around for a long time. You'll have much fun growing it. Easy to propagate by cuttings and a nice subject for a basket. They can have a spectacular flush of flowers.

Streptocarpus is divided into two subgenera: subgenus Streptocarpella contains all the bushy, upright plants and subgenus Streptocarpus contains all the "typical" Streps aka. "Cape Primroses".

To make matters even worse, Saintpaulia (African Violets) are the closest relatives of the subgenus Streptocarpella and thus an inclusion of Saintpaulia into Streptocarpus presumably as a third subgenus has been proposed.

Those taxonomists... LOL

Olaf

Good grief, those taxonomists is right!

I will tell my SIL it is a Streptocarpus saxorum and leave it at that. :-)