Streptocarpus rexii

Streptocarpus rexii is a South African plant in the family Gesneriaceae, occurring widely from the southern Cape along the coastal hills, mountains, wooded ravines and valleys, and moist forests of the east coast, through Natal as far north as the Eastern Transvaal, up to an elevation of about 900 m. This genus of epiphytes and lithophytes, of about 130 species, is mainly African and Mascarene, with four vagrant species in Asia. Streptocarpus, as do other Old World Gesneriaceae, is unusual in that it displays anisocotylous or unequal growth, i.e. one cotyledon continues to grow after germination. James Bowie, the Kew's botanical collector, first collected specimens and seeds of this plant in 1818 near Knysna on the estates of George Rex and sent these to Kew, asking that the plant be named after the legendary Rex. It was consequently named Didymocarpus rexii by William Jackson Hooker. John Lindley disagreed with Hooker's classification, creating a new genus and renaming the plant Stre......read more on Wikipedia.