Historical reference: Do not rely on this information. It is very old. About this collection
Gloxinia, a genus of Gesneraceae, a gamopetalous order, natives of tropical America, many of which are cultivated for the sake of their showy flowers. They have apposite, stalked leaves, which are often velvety and rather fleshy, and may be used to propagate the plant, as in Begonia. The flowers are either drooping or erect, the corolla bell-shaped and the modern hybrid forms almost polysymmetrically so. They vary much in colour.