Plants | Gesneriad Reference Web

Streptocarpus rhodesianus is a species that has two subspecies based on morphological differences and on geographic distribution as the ranges of the two subspecies do not overlap.

Streptocarpus rhodesianus ssp. rhodesianus occurs in Zambia, the Katanga Province of the Congo and eastern Moxico Province of Angola. Its grows in the shelter of outcrops on moss and lichen covered rocks and on mountainsides. Its rosette of leaves (up to 200 x 190 mm, mostly smaller) has a flannely, greyish green appearance and the plant appears to have good drought resistance if gauged by the glandular hairs found on its leaves, stems and flowers. These hairs allow the capture of moisture from mists and clouds. The flowers are small (7-10 mm long), dull purple to wine red with the inside of the corolla lobes white with wine red blotches and two rows of hairs on the lower corolla tube. The hairiness reminds one of the Angolan species, Streptocarpus huamboensis which also has hairs all over the plant.

Streptocarpus rhodesianus ssp. grandiflorus is described in the Flora of East Africa from southern Tanzania where it also occurs on rocky outcrops. It is described as having larger white flowers, but few details or pictures are available.

Streptocarpus erubescens is a monocarpic, unifoliate species from high altitude areas in central to southern Malawi extending into western Mozambique where it grows on mossy rocks in evergreen forest and in rock crevices under overhangs. It is even reported to grow on hills within the municipal limits of cities such as Blantyre and Zomba in Malawi.

Its single leaf (150 x 120 mm maximum) is dark green above, red below with serrated edges. The flowers are white with pink tones, with three magenta-pink stripes inside. The species is very similar to Streptocarpus cyanandrus and Streptocarpus pumilus from Zimbabwe, and DNA analysis confirms this close relationship.

Despite it’s wide distribution, one-time presence in cultivation and use in hybridizing we could find no pictures of this species, hence the hopefully temporary use of the herbarium sheet above, with the ruler for scale.

Streptocarpus wittei (pronounce the “w” as a “v”) occurs in the vicinity of Lukafu in gorges draining the Kundulungu Plateau north of Lubumbashi, Katanga Province, south eastern Congo, and then again with a significant disjunction (about 700 km) near Chowo on the Nyika Plateau on the border between northern Zambia and Malawi. It is a large monocarpic, unifoliate species, leaf about 250 x 280 mm, with many large flowers (50 – 60 mm) per inflorescence, dark violet with darker violet and yellow throat markings. It habitat is likely to be forest in the Lukafu vicinity but on the Nyika Plateau it occurs on rocky outcrops. More fieldwork is required to compare the morphology and DNA sequences of the two isolated populations to establish whether this species should be split into two.

Streptocarpus solenanthus occurs over a wide range from the Manica Highlands on the Zimbabwe Mozambique border, to the Nyika Plateau in Zambia and Malawi, the Vipya Plateau in Malawi, the mountains at the northern end of Lake Malawi and even as far as the Uluguru Mountains in the Eastern Arc mountains, inland of Dar-es-Salaam, in Tanzania. It is a monocarpic, unifoliate species (leaf 350 x 70 mm) and grows both in forest and on rock outcrops. The corolla (22-36 mm) is whitish to pale violet, often with darker violet patches in the throat. With such a huge range more fieldwork is required to better define this species.

Streptocarpus grandis ssp. septentrionalis was originally described from the Chimanimani District, in the eastern Manica Highlands of Zimbabwe but also occurs in Mozambique. It differs from its sister subspecies, Streptocarpus grandis ssp. grandis, by differences in the hairs on the ovary and in having fewer glandular hairs on the inflorescence, has a pale violet to almost white corolla with no throat markings and overall has smaller leaves and flowers.

It occurs some 1000 km away for its sister subspecies. DNA analysis has not been performed on this subspecies (as indicated by the * in the Section species listing) and further comparisons of the two subspecies’ morphology and DNA may indicate that it is a separate species and not only a subspecies.

Streptocarpus davyi is a medium sized, rosulate, perennial species, which has a very restricted distribution within an approximately 40 km radius of Mbabane, the capital of Eswatini (former Swaziland). The species occurs under and in the shade of huge granite boulders. It has medium to light green leaves that are maximally 60 x 10 mm with a short stalk (petiolode). The whole plant has lots of hairs to catch moisture from mists.

The flowers are 15 – 20 mm long, most are white, sometimes very pale violet, and sometimes there is a yellow patch further down the corolla tube where the stamens are attached. It has not attracted much horticultural interest, but is a charming little plant that may attract the specialist and the hybridizer because it is smaller.

Streptocarpus pogonites occurs in the high altitude area near Barberton in Mpumalanga, South Africa which is near the border to Eswatini (former Swaziland). Higher altitude always implies cooler temperatures and therefore more moderate conditions, but Streptocarpus pogonites grows in very exposed sites where even the milder high altitude does not make the conditions under which it grows less extreme.

As the pictures show, it grows close to succulent aloes, that are extremely drought tolerant. It has up to five leaves (130 x 55 mm) and is a typical small rosulate species. Leaf, all stalks and flowers are covered in hairs to reduce moisture loss and to capture moisture from high altitude mists. Its flowers are short (corolla 9-10 mm) with very reduced corolla lobes and are pale creamy white with reddish-violet stripes on the corolla base. This species could be an interesting horticultural subject, but it’s unusual natural environment may make it difficult. In any event, it is not in cultivation at present.

Streptocarpus occultus is a small monocarpic, unifoliate species originally thought to be another isolated population of Streptocarpus rimicola, but was then raised to species level in 1992 by Olive Hilliard. The species grows in rock fissures and caves under huge granitic boulders in grassveld in the south eastern Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, near the Eswatini (former Swaziland) border.

S. occultus has small leaves (10-20 mm wide x 30-50 mm long) and small faint pink to white flowers (15 mm long). It is threatened by exotic tree plantations which have been planted and replace the grassveld thereby given more shade to localities and reducing water runoff when it rains.

Streptocarpus makabengensis is another small monocarpic, unifoliate species. It has small dark green leaves with a red underside (maximally 300 mm long x 60 mm wide) and small white flowers (15 mm). It was originally thought to be an isolated population of Streptocarpus rimicola, but was then raised to species level in 1992 by Olive Hilliard.

It occurs on the Machabeng Mountain, a higher altitude granitic mountain massif in the northernmost Limpopo Province of South Africa, where it grows on only one of a few very exceptional inselbergs. Climbing to the cracks were it grows requires rock climbing skills and it is only found under overhangs high up on the one inselberg on this mountain. When it is dry, it disappears, only to reappear once adequate rainfall has fallen again. The summer season of 2025/6 was particularly wet allowing this species to grow in a profusion seldom seen.

Streptocarpus molweniensis ssp. eshowicus is a large monocarpic, unifoliate species with large mauve, tube-shaped flowers growing on steep earth banks. It is named ‘eshowicus’ after the town of Eshowe some 100 km north of Durban, South Africa, which lies about 25 km from the Indian Ocean. Much of the town of Eshowe is situated in a forest patch which has a high elevation forest walkway from which this species can be observed. Its species name ‘molweniensis’ is derived from the Molweni River in Durban where its sister subspecies, Streptocarpus molweniensis ssp. molweniensis occurs.

Streptocarpus monophyllus is a large monocarpic, unifoliate species (28 x 30 cm) with large, mauve flowers (40-45 mm long), deeper mauve in the throat, lighter on the outside. Streptocarpus monophyllus is found on the east facing cliffs of the southern highlands of Angola, in the vicinity of Lubango at altitudes of 1700 – 2200 metres. One gorge in which they occur lies next to the spectacular Leba Pass, leading down to the Namib desert and the Atlantic Ocean some 200 km to the west.

Streptocarpus hilburttianus is known from only a few high altitude areas (around 2000 m above sea level) in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, where it grows primarily in open grassveld on steep shaded embankments. The leaves abscise due to the severe winters at these altitudes and then regrow in spring when rain falls again. It is very similar to Streptocarpus galpinii as it also possesses 1 to 3 leaves so. However, Streptocarpus hilburttianus has a cylindric corolla, not cup-shaped and open as in Streptocarpus galpinii, which has two chevrons of deep mauve on the sides on the bottom lobe of the corolla.

Gesneriad Genera