Sinningia speciosa ‘Regina’ has become a catch-all category for plants within the S. speciosa group that have patterned leaves, dark with silvery vein markings. Within the category are a wide variety of plants with differently colored flowers, plant sizes, leaf shapes, etc. It is probably not a valid taxon, although useful.
The original description of a plant with this name was from The Gardener’s Chronicle in 1904, and described a plant that was a hitchhiker with a Cattleya orchid from Brazil. It was describe as having dark green velvety leaves, purple colored on the reverse. The flowers were a pale violet color.
Many different plants have been assigned this name in one way or another. The plant illustrated above is clearly different from that published in 1904, in that it has dark purple flowers rather than pale violet.
It seems likely that the presence of dark leaves with silvery veins is a widespread trait within the S. speciosa complex, and that the name S. regina or variants like S. speciosa ‘Regina’ are not specific to any particular clone or seed-line.
Additional photographs of plants assigned this name may be seen in a slideshow by clicking one of the links below.
