Gloxinia

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 in......read more on Wikipedia.