Ask the Expert: What is my new plant?
In the African violet family same fuzzy leaves only they are more long and oval than round. Leaves are not very big. The violet itself blooms on the end of a wiry stem 4-10 inches long. Easy to grow. I would love to know the name of this plant. I really love it because it is a prolific grower and quite beautiful. I begged a slip from someone who also did not know the name. I would appreciate you help. Susan

Reply:
Susan,

Could your plant be a trailing African Violet? The Saintpaulia (African Violets) genus consists of 20 different species and over 2000 cultivars that look similar but can range from stemless plants with small elliptic hairy leaves clumps in rosettes to plants with extended stems with larger and oval shaped. My next guess would be Sinningia speciosa (Floirsts Gloxinias) which is a cousin to the African violet very similar but the Gloxinias do have a longer oval shaped leaves and the flowers do appear on stems. If you send me a picture I would have a better idea of what it is.