Kohleria

Kohleria is a New World genus of the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. The plants are generally tropical herbs or subshrubs with velvety stems and foliage and brightly colored flowers with spots or markings in contrasting colors. They are rhizomatous and commonly include a period of dormancy in their growth cycle.

Because of their colorful and exotically patterned flowers, as well as a general interest in the many tropical flowering plants that were being introduced for the first time from the Americas, kohlerias were very popular in England and Europe in the 19th Century. Many species and hybrids were lavishly illustrated in horticultural magazines such as Curtis's Botanical Magazine under the discarded or erroneous names of Achimenes, Gesneria, Isoloma, Sciadocalyx, and Tydaea. These species and hybrids almost entirely disappeared in the early 20th Century, and plant breeders have only recently begun to work extensively with this genus again.

Several species are widespread, variable, weedy, and tend to hybridize in the wild, and numerous names have been described that are synonyms of other species or are hybrid taxa.

Their showy flowers and ease of culture have made them popular with growers of indoor houseplants. Numerous species and hybrids are now in cultivation, some with patterned or variegated foliage as well as vivid flowers. They are easily propagated by both stem cuttings and division of the rhizomes.


Selected species
Kohleria villosa

Kohleria spicata

Kohleria affinis

Kohleria tigridia

Kohleria allenii

Kohleria amabilis

Kohleria hirsuta

Kohleria inaequalis

Kohleria warscewiczii

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