Sinningia barbata

Sinningia barbata has greenish-white flowers with a 90-degree bend in the middle.

Flowers
Flowerbuds
Plant and habit
Tuber?
Flowering season
Feature table
Nectaries
External link
Publication

The 2007 Gesneriad Society convention in Miami had a really great sale as far as sinningias were concerned. One of the prizes I brought home was a plant of Sinningia barbata, which I could not recall ever having seen before, much less owned.

S. barbata is not well known, even among sinningia growers like me, but whatever renown it does possess rests on three unusual characteristics.

Even though it is a genuine sinningia, and not (for instance) off in the paliavana suburbs, it does not have a genuine tuber, but rather a swelling at the underground base of the stem (but see a counterargument).
It has a square stem, just as if it were a member of the mint family.
It has flowers tinged with green.

Flowers

The species name barbata means "bearded", presumably a reference to the hairy flowers. Hairy they definitely are.

Flowerbuds became visible at the beginning of November 2007 (see below), and opened at the end of the month.

The flowers have a greenish tinge, which is unusual. Also unusual is the almost 90-degree bend in the corolla. Starting at the base, the corolla inflates into a kind of pouch, then turns at almost a right angle, constricts to a small tube, and then flares into the usual five-lobed entrance.

At this point in the development of the flowers, the reproductive parts (stamens and stigma) are still far back in the pouch, well away from the entrance to the corolla tube. The greenish color, the unusual geometry, and the well-hidden reproductive apparatus make one wonder about what sort of pollinator these flowers are designed to attract.

Flowerbuds

In November 2007, the plant developed two flowerbuds. Although S. barbata is not closely related to Paliavana tenuiflora, its flowerbuds bear a distinct resemblance to those of the paliavana species. Comparison of this picture with that of P. tenuiflora shows that both have calyxes that completely enclose the developing flowerbud and in both the junction where the calyx lobes meet is raised into a ridge or keel.

In most species of Sinningia, the calyx is relatively small, and the corolla protrudes well beyond the calyx early in its development. Presumably, S. barbata has independently hit upon the same strategem as P. tenuiflora (and Vanhouttea lanata and V. brueggeri) to protect the corolla and internal flowerparts during the early stages of its growth.

Plant and Habit

The picture to the right shows the plant shortly after I brought it home from Miami. It was a nice healthy rosette with a short stem.

The blooming plant pictured at the top of the page was about 15 cm [6 inches] tall and has a bare stem with only a few leaves at the top. I do not know what it looks like under normal conditions at this time of year [beginning of December]. I hope that future years will give me a better idea of the correct culture for this species.

Flowering Season

In their paper on the geographical distribution pattern of sinningias, Perret et al. provided a table showing the blooming season of most sinningia species, based on whether herbarium specimens obtained during a given month had flowers. By that standard, Sinningia barbata was remarkable for having blooms during eleven of the twelve months!

This strongly suggests that S. barbata is close to everblooming in its native habitat -- and that it does not go dormant. Under my conditions, however, it most definitely did go dormant, so thoroughly that I almost gave up on its waking up. After the picture of the tuber taken in January 2009, the plant slept until July 2009. Fortunately, a cutting I had taken did not go dormant, even though it remained small, so I had a little insurance. As of late July 2009: both pieces doing well, but neither blooming.

Feature table for Sinningia barbata

Plant Description
Growth	Indeterminate
Habit	Stem upright, square
Leaves	Shiny dark green, reverse maroon (in theory, but not on my plant)
Dormancy	Small tuber, or none (see the picture)
Flowering
Inflorescence	Axillary cyme
Season	Mine bloomed for the first time in late November [2007], but that may be because it is a small and mistreated plant. In 2008, it bloomed in July-August. See the discussion above.
Flower	White/green (see above)
Horticultural aspects
Hardiness	I have no data. However, S. barbata comes from the part of Brazil not far south of the equator (mainly Bahia state), so it is very unlikely to be cold-tolerant.
Propagation	From stem cuttings. Leaf cuttings have rotted rather than rooting, and I have not been able to set seed on my plant yet.
Botany
Nectaries	Two, white, elongated (see picture below)
Taxonomic group	By itself in the Corytholoma clade.