The plants have axillary flowers, their legs are long. The corollas of the flowers are large, similar to goblets, they have a pronounced five-lobed bend, they have wide zev. The calyx of flowers is rounded, tubular with 5 lobules. In the genus Sinningia about 20 species of plants. They are common in the tropics of South America, usually in the regions of Brazil.
Some classifications distinguish proper gloxinium, as a genus, close to the plants of the genus Sinningia. Gloxinium does not have tubers. These plants can be found much less often than syningia. In the genus of this plant there are only six varieties. Decorative species are common in the south of America in the tropics. In the cultivated form, the only species known as G. Perennis is known .
Classification: problems
On the territory of Brazil, an unfamiliar plant was discovered. At the base of it was a scaly rhizome, and the flower looked like a bell. This was in 1785. This plant was the first of a new genus. It has received the name Gloksinia speckled. This name was given to the plant in honor of the Strasbourg naturalist Gloksin BP
In the first years of the 20th century, a plant was brought from the tropics of America, which looked like representatives of the genus gloxinia, but it differed in that it had a tuber. But the shape of the flower and its structure were similar in plants, which gave grounds to attribute them to a common genus. This species was called gloxinium beautiful. It is from her, as a result of long breeding developments, dozens of varieties of the current gloxins were obtained, to which we are so accustomed on our window sills. They have amazing colors and shapes of flowers. The size of them in representatives of a new species of gloxinia beautiful increased almost 3 times, if you compare them with flowers of the parent form.
But botanists did not manage without confusion. In 1925, another genus of plants was described, which belongs to the family to which gloxinia belongs, to Gesneria. In synning, the distinctive feature was the presence of tubers, and it also differed in the structure of the flower. The new genus was named after V. Sinning, who was a gardener at the Botanical Garden at the University of Bonn.
Already later, botanists still decided that it would be fair to classify gloxinia as excellent for the genus of syning plants, since all signs and botanical laws indicated this. But by this time gloxinia already many gardeners and lovers of indoor flowers had time to learn and fall in love, and the old name "gloxinium" is quite firmly entrenched in the plant. In German, the word Glocke is translated as a "bell", and florets in gloxinia are reminiscent of bells, so amateurs were difficult to challenge the correctness of the name of a plant of the genus gloxinia.
In the special literature the plant is called gloxinia hybrid or gloxinium beautiful, nevertheless, their birthright belongs to the genus of syningia beautiful. Correctly - the syningia is beautiful - everyone knows the wonderful gloxinia beautiful is called only in botanical directories.
Gloxinium plants: care
These houseplants love light, but that it is scattered. It is better to put pots with them on the eastern or western windows. On the south side, the plants are placed away from the windows, so that there is no direct light from the sun. Only from February and till May days the plant can be kept in open light.
Gloxinia - plants that love heat. They do not tolerate temperature jumps and drafts. Plants respond well to temperature uniformity. At night it should be about 18 degrees, and in the daytime - about 22. When the rest period comes, plants need a temperature of 10 or 14 degrees.
When the growing season begins, they should be watered abundantly with water, which managed to settle. Re-watering should be done when the top layers of the earth dry. The temperature of the water depends on the growth of plants and their development. In the winter months, it should be warmer (about 22 degrees), at which time it is not necessary to spray gloxinia. When there is a period of rest, watering the plants should be rare.
During the vegetative period of gloxinia (syningia), an increased humidity of air is needed, it hardly tolerates the ingress of water onto flowers and leaves. That's why the air from the sprayer is sprayed only around the plant itself. You can put the pot on wet clay or pebbles. The bottom should not reach the water.
When the plants reach the age of four, they can last long and abundantly blossom: from about May to September. During this time the plant gives hundreds of beautiful flowers, often at the same time, blossom 15 flowers. In order for this period to last longer, it is necessary to cut off the stained pedicels.
In Synning, the period of rest is clearly pronounced. After the plant has faded, water it less. When the leaves fade, the tubers are left intact in the ground, while the temperature in autumn and winter should not rise more than 14 degrees. Sometimes you need to inspect the tubers of the plant. If they strongly wrinkled, then they need to be watered, but not often. If the plant is planned to be planted in the room, the first sign of readiness for planting is the appearance of kidneys on the tubers. From January to February, the tubers must be excavated and then planted again, after having been cleaned, into fresh prepared land. Pots should be, approximately, 13-centimeter. Deeper tubers should be so that the kidneys were covered by a centimeter of earth, which should include leafy land, peat - in part, sand - half less. After planting the land is watered, put in the light, the temperature should be about 20 g.
The amount of tubers depends on the size of the tubers. In room conditions it is better to leave a pair of shoots or one, the most developed one. Feed the plant should start from the first days of April. Top dressing is carried out until August. Fertilizers should contain potassium, phosphorus, some nitrogen. You can water the plant and organic, for example, diluted infusion of water and mullein. But nitrogen can lead to the formation of small flowers and ugly leaves, this is not good for the ornamentality of the plant.
Synning (gloxinia) can be propagated by seeds, as well as leaf cuttings. Synning is propagated only with the help of tubers. The plant is prone to defeats by a spider mite, whitefly and scutellum. Often the plant suffers from an invasion of the mealybug.