THE HISTORY OF THE AFICAN VIOLET Saintpaulia or African violets is one of the smaller genera in the Old World

Ges neriaceae. The twenty or so species of the genus (described below). The African violet really is an African plant. While it presumably grew uncelebrated by botanists and plant-lovers for countles s millennia it had to wait until 1892 for its official discovery by the Baron Walter von Sai nt Paul, the German governor of a northeastern province in Tanganyika, now part of Tanzan ia. Von Saint Paul found the plant growing among shaded rocky ledges in the Usambara Mountains. He immediately sent seeds of his "Usambara violet" to his father in Germany. In Germany the plant was classified in the Family Gesneriaceae and acquired a bo tanical name which it still bears today: Saintpaulia in honour of the von Saint Paul family. In 1893 the first commercially produced plants were offered by Friedrich Benary in Erfurt, Germany. This genus Saintpaulia has generally stood as a distinct taxonomic unit after it s description by Hermann Wendland of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hanover, Germany in 1893, from plants collected by Baron von St. Paul in 1892, and has had little confusio n with other genera. The plants are spread over an area of 70,000 square kilometers in Tanzania and K enya and individual species usually occur in very limited geographical areas. The plants grow as rosettes or trailers and are often found on rocky hillsides, cliffs or rock outcrops shaded by large trees. Most of the Saintpaulia species h ave been in cultivation for many years, however, recent collections have suggested the possi bility that new species, varieties or hybrids may still be found in the wild. The reason behind the limited distribution for genus Saintpaulia is unclear, but may reflect some unusual feature in the ecology, seed dispersal mechanism, or evolutionary h istory of the genus. When the species are listed by their geographical locations, it can be seen that most of the species are found in the Usambara Mountains, particularly the East Usamba ras which are home to 13 of the species and varieties. The remaining plants are found to the north (Kenya) or to the south (Nguru and U luguru Mountains). Only a limited number of the species have been used in the hybridization program s that have produced the thousands of brightly colored cultivars available today. Hybridizers' efforts over the past many decades have succeeded in bringing us ne w plant sizes and growth habits, blossom colours, and many other changes which add enorm

ous variety to a collection of African violets. The African violet enjoyed some success as a houseplant in Germany and other Eur opean countries and was brought to this continent by the California firm of Armacost and Royston in 1926 when they imported seeds from the German and British greenhouses that had specialized in the plant. The original ten selected for release included Blue Boy, Sailor Boy, Admiral, Am ethyst, Commodore, Mermaid, Neptune, Norseman, Viking, and #32. The varieties that Armacost and Royston grew from these first batches of seed ar e still often grown today. The 20 Saintpaulia species (see pictures of each in photo album A. Violet, #15 has no picture) The monographs of B.L. Burtt in 1958 and 1964 have been instrumental in the recognition of the 20 original species in the genus Saintpaulia. 1. S. brevipilosa. This species was collected by W. R. Punter in 1959 in the Nguru Mountains at an elevation of 1000-1100 m 2. S. confusa. This species is known from several locations and elevations in the East Usambara s Mountains and appears to be the taxon collected in 1891 by Baron von St. Paul and was undo ubtedly used in the development of today's cultivars. 3. S. difficilis. This species was first collected by W.R. Punter in 1939 in the East Usambaras Mo untains. It has been collected several times from the head waters of the Sigi River at el evations of 900-1050 m. 4. S. diplotricha. This species was first collected in the East Usambara Mountains in Tanzania in 1 895 at an elevation of 1000 m, 5. S. goetzeana. This species was collected by W. Goetze in 1898 from the Uluguru Mountains in Ta nzania. This species is one of the oldest Saintpaulia species known and was collected at elevations of 1300-2000 m. 6. S. grandifolia. This species was collected by W.R. Punter in the West Usambara Mountains 7. S. grotei. This species was collected by H. Grote in the East Usambaras Mountains near Aman i at an elevation of 1080 m 8. S. inconspicua. This species was first recorded in 1934 from the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania b y E.M. Bruce. It was found at an elevation of 1370 m. Its status in the wild is uncertain and

it may be extinct. 9. S. intermedia. T This species was collected by W.R. Punter in the East Usambara Mountains, Kigong oi, Tanzania 10. S. ionantha. This species is the one that the world has generally come to know as "The Africa n violet'' and its descendants are the basis of the African violet commercial sales. This plant was the one discovered by Walter van Saint Paul in 1892 and was descr ibed as a new species by H. Wendland in 1893. The species has been collected in sever al places in Tanzania, but it is usually found near sea level or at other lowland sites. 11. S. magungensis. The plant was collected in the East Usambaras Mountains near Magunga, Tanzania. 12. S. nitida. This species was collected in 1953 by Drummond and Hemsley at an elevation of 10 00 m in the Nguru Mountains near Turianai, Tanzania, 13. S. orbicularis. It was discovered by A. Peter in 1916 in the West Usambara Mountains at an eleva tion of 1200 m. 14. S. pendula. It was collected by W.R. Punter from the East Usambara Mountains, Mt. Mtai, Tanz ania, 15. S. pusilla. This species is one of the oldest known species, having been collected by W. Goe tze in 1898, but is not currently known in modern collections. It has been reported at a numb er of locations from the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania. This species is a high mountain species, growing at elevations of 1200-1800 m. 16. S. rupicola. This species was collected by W.R. Punter in 1958. This species is one of the fe w that is found in Kenya. 17. S. shumensis. This species was collected by P.J. Greenway in 1947 from the West Usambaras Moun tains near Shume, Tanzania, from high elevations, growing from 1900-1950 m. 18. S. teitensis. This species was first collected in the Teita Hills, Kenya in 1938 19. S. tongwensis. This species was collected by P.J. Greenway in 1940 from the Tongwe Mountain in the East Usambaras Mountains at an elevation of 600 m. 20. S. velutina. This beautiful, but temperamental species was collected by A. Peter in 1916 in t he West

Usambara Mountains, near Balangai, Tanzania, at an elevation of 900 m. Optimara Violets were first introduced in 1977, they represented a crowning achi evement for Holtkamp Greenhouses (the developer of Optimara Violets) and for the African Violet industry as a whole. Optimara Violets were the embodiment of nearly 50 years of research and developm ent at Holtkamp Greenhouses. Among the innovations contributed by Holtkamp Greenhouses are non-dropping flowers and continuous blooming. The first Holtkamp variety was named "Saint Martin" in honour of Holtkamp's fath er-in-law, Martin Dorrenbach. In 1956, Holtkamp introduced the Rhapsodie trademark. It was under this name that the characteristic of non-dropping flowers made its historic debu t. Introduced in 1977, the Optimara trademark name is derived from two words: optim um (meaning the best) and Usambara (the mountains in East Africa where the African Violet was fi rst discovered). From the beginning, Holtkamp Greenhouses USA set out to make Optimara Violets as easy to grow as they were beautiful. In 1986, was able to debut its miniature "Little Indian" series and super miniat ure "Little Jewel" series. During this same time, Optimara began crossing all their varieties with an extr aordinary, new characteristic, continuous blooming. Perhaps one of the most exciting projects is the "Space Violet" program. In 1984 , Holtkamp Greenhouses launched 25,000 Optimara seeds into space on one of NASA's space shuttles. The seeds remained in space, orbiting the Earth, for nearly six years. When the seeds were retrieved in 1990, many mutations soon became apparent. One such mutation h as resulted in a new characteristic called multiflorescence. This characteristic gives Optim ara Violets an extraordinary abundance of flowers which never stop blooming. Other projects Optimara introduced were the World Traveler series, the Victorian Charm series, and the Artist's Palette series. The World Traveler series is comprised of violets named for major cities around the world. The Victorian Charm series features a number of standard violets with variegated leaves named for a virtue reminiscent of the Victorian era. The Artist's Palette series features standard violets named for a famous painter . In the 1980s, Optimara began to introduce a line of plant care products

specifically designed for African Violets. With more than half a century of research to guide them, Optimara was in an unique position to develop products that would make it easy f or anyone to grow beautiful African Violets. Among the future hits that Optimara is working on are the development of a yello w and true red (or crimson) African Violet. Both have eluded the best efforts of resea rchers for years, and the development of either one would represent a monumental achievemen t. Currently the African violet has more than seven thousand registered cultivars a nd the potential variety availability seems almost endless! No wonder the African violets one of the world's most popular houseplants.