The Gesneriasts

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Join us for a botanical trip to northern Germany late summer 2012

The Gesneriasts is a non-profit association for people who are enthusiastically interested in the plant family Gesneriaceae. The association has at the moment over 480 members in 10 countries, most of them in Sweden. The plant family Gesneriaceae is often called "the potted plant family" because the family's approximately 3300 species are exceptionally well suited for growing indoors. There are also several small trees and about 20 rock garden plants.

Through our seed fund, our beginner's package with plants, rhizomes and tubers and through our exchange market, we are trying to contribute the preservation of threatened species for posterity. Our main duty is to spread knowledge about the Gesneriaceae family.

In our magazine "GESNERIASTNYTT" (Gesneriast News), new genus and species, as well as new sorts of old well known potted plants are presented, for example Sinningia (gloxinia), Streptocarpus, Kohleria (fool's hood) and Achimenes. "GESNERIASTNYTT" has four issues annually and every issue contains some 40 pages of text and color photographs of the plants. At this site there are several articles about gesneriads and how to grow them.

"Gesneriasts of Sweden", as we are called in English, is a local chapter of the Gesneriad Society (priviously American Gloxinia and Gesneriad Society). All over the world, there are a couple of thousand gesneriasts, i.e. people who are interested in growing gesneriads.