Plant of the Week
African Violet
Latin: Saintpaulia ionanth
 African Violets are the most popular blooming houseplant in the world. How
this small, tropical wildflower found its way to most windowsills in America
makes an interesting tale. Though, not at all related to violets and pansies,
the African violet does share the flat, five-petaled face of true violets. There
the resemblance ends.
The African violet (Saintpaulia ionantha) is a member of the tropical
Gesneriad family and is related to such plants as gloxinia and streptocarpus.
Although the most common color is blue, selections are available in shades of
pink, rose, red, purple, violet, white and even yellow. Plants grow in a rosette
while young but eventually the stem may elongate to 6 inches or more in length.
The fleshy, hairy leaves are to 6 inches long and have the ability to produce
plantlets from the leaves, the most common means of propagation.
The African violet was discovered in 1892 by Baron Walter Von Saint Paul
about an hour from Tanga on the modern day border of Tanzania and Kenya. The
baron, realizing the plant was different, sent specimens to his father in
Germany who in turn shared the find with a botanist at Royal Botanic Garden in
Hanover. This botanist, Herman Wendland, realized the plant was new to science
and named the genus after the Saint Paul family and coined the species name
"ionantha"
which in Latin means "violet like."
The commercialization of this new crop began almost immediately. The rights
to distribute the plant were sold to the German seed company, Ernst Benary, in
1893. This company provided seeds to W.K. Harris, of the Harris Seed Company in
Philadelphia, in 1894.
Although grown locally in the United States, the real discovery of African
violets by the American public began after 1927 when the Armacost and Royston
Nursery in Los Angeles released a number of hybrids including
‘Blue Boy’
and ‘Sailor Boy.’
In the first chain-store venture in plant selling, Woolworth & Co. distributed
these new hybrids and spread them throughout the country, making African violet
nationwide.
African violets are easy to grow if all of the rules are followed. First,
they must have a highly organic potting soil and this potting mix must be kept
uniformly moist. To accomplish this task, many growers use various wick watering
systems. Plants must be fertilized regularly when making active growth with any
balanced houseplant fertilizer or one of the special African violet fertilizers
on the market. Being tropical, African violets should never be exposed to
temperatures below 55 degrees.
The most exacting requirement for African violet culture is light. These
plants are "photo accumulators ,"
meaning that they require a given quantity of light energy before they will
flower. But because they are under story plants, they must never have full sun.
Ideally, plants should have between 500- to 600-foot candles of light, which
is about the amount of light received on a north window sill in the summer. In
the winter, that amount of light is about what is available in an east window.
Some gardeners choose to use artificial light and place fluorescent lights 12
inches above the violets. If the light is managed correctly and the plants have
fertilizer during periods of active growth, it's possible to produce three
flushes of blooms a year from the plants.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
November 7, 2003
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