''Seemannia'' is a

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

genus in the

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

family

Gesneriaceae Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), wit ...

. There are four species in the genus, primarily found in the

Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S l ...

regions of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. The name honors the German botanist

Berthold Carl Seemann Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in Hanover, Germany – 10 October 1871, in Nicaragua, Central America), was a German botanist. He travelled widely and collected and described plants from the Pacific and South America. In 1844 he tra ...

Taxonomic history

''Seemannia'' was created in 1855 by

Regel Eduard August von Regel (sometimes Edward von Regel or Edward de Regel or Édouard von Regel), Russian: Эдуард Август Фон Регель; (born 13 August 1815 in Gotha; died 15 April 1892 in St. Petersburg) was a German horticultural ...

for the species ''Seemannia ternifolia'' (now considered a synonym of ''S. sylvatica''). In 1976 ''Seemannia'' was synonymized under the genus '' Gloxinia'' by gesneriad specialist

Hans Wiehler Hans Joachim Wiehler (8 July 1930 in Klettendorf – 2003) was a German botanist who specialized in the plant family Gesneriaceae. In 1954 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana and a Bachelor of Divinity de ...

but has more recently been revived following phylogenetic and morphological research on relationships of ''Gloxinia'' and related genera, which suggested that Wiehler's generic concept of ''Gloxinia'' was overly broad and

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

. Although now recognized as a separate genus, ''Seemannia'' is closely related to ''Gloxinia'' and hybrids between the two genera are fertile although the two genera are very distinct morphologically. Although all of the species occur in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

, ''

Seemannia purpurascens ''Seemannia'' is a New World genus in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. There are four species in the genus, primarily found in the Andean regions of South America. The name honors the German botanist Berthold Carl Seemann. Taxonom ...

'' is unusual in having a

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

, with populations in northern

( Guyana,

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

, and northern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

) widely separated from Andean populations in southern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. ;Species * ''

Seemannia gymnostoma ''Seemannia'' is a New World genus in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. There are four species in the genus, primarily found in the Andean regions of South America. The name honors the German botanist Berthold Carl Seemann. Taxonom ...

'' (southern Peru, Bolivia, northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

) * ''

Seemannia nematanthodes ''Seemannia'' is a New World genus in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. There are four species in the genus, primarily found in the Andean regions of South America. The name honors the German botanist Berthold Carl Seemann. Taxonom ...

'' (Bolivia, northern Argentina) * ''

'' (southern Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, French Guiana, northern Brazil) * ''

Seemannia sylvatica ''Seemannia'' is a New World genus in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. There are four species in the genus, primarily found in the Andes, Andean regions of South America. The name honors the German botanist Berthold Carl Seemann. Taxono ...

'' (Peru, Bolivia, northern Argentina,

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, southern Brazil)

References

*Roalson, E.H., J.K. Boggan, L.E., Skog, & E.A. Zimmer. 2005. Untangling the Gloxinieae (Gesneriaceae). I. Phylogenetic patterns and generic boundaries inferred from nuclear, chloroplast, and morphological cladistic data sets. ''Taxon'' 54 (2): 389-410. *Roalson, E.H., J.K. Boggan & L.E. Skog. 2005. Reorganization of tribal and generic boundaries in the Gloxinieae (Gesneriaceae: Gesnerioideae) and the description of a new tribe in the Gesnerioideae, Sphaerorrhizeae. ''Selbyana'' 25 (2): 225-238. *Wiehler, H. 1976. A report on the classification of ''Achimenes'', ''Eucodonia'', ''Gloxinia'', and ''Anetanthus'' (Gesneriaceae). ''Selbyana'' 1 (4): 374-404.

External links

''Seemannia''
a
Genera of Gesneriaceae
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7445884 Gesnerioideae Gesneriaceae genera Taxa named by Eduard August von Regel