Niphaea

Full name and orig. publication: Niphaea Lindl., Bot. Reg. 27, Misc. 80 (Oct. 1841).

Etymology: From the Greek νιφος, niphos = snow; in allusion to the plain white flowers.

Synonyms: Meneghinia Vis. (1846).

Infrafamilial position: Gesnerioideae-Gesnerieae-Gloxiniinae (Weber et al. 2013).

Description: Terrestrial perennial herbs, with scaly rhizomes. Stem low, erect, herbaceous, terete. Leaves opposite, those of a pair (sub)equal, distinctly petiolate, lamina ovate to elliptic, serrate, main and side veins sometimes purplish (never white or silvery), softly hairy, side veins (2-)5-7 pairs. Axillary cymes of 1 to few long-stalked flowers, ± composing a terminal corymb. Sepals forming a campanulate calyx. Corolla rotate to subrotate, shallowly campanulate, white. Stamens 4, adnate to corolla base; filaments short (shorter than or as long as anthers), straight; anthers yellow, free, thecae oblong, parallel, apically confluent, dehiscence by longitudinal slits. Nectary absent. Ovary semi-inferior, style curved, stigma stomatomorphic. Fruit an ovoid, dry, rostrate capsule, dehiscing loculicidally, valves opening only slightly, with a fringe of stiff hairs on the inner margins of the valves.

Chromosome number: n= 11, 2n = 22.

Species number: 3 (-4).

Species names: Niphaea mexicana C.V.Morton, N. oblonga LindI., N. pumila J.K.Boggan & L.E.Skog, and a probably new, undescribed species (Boggan et al. 2008).

Type species: Niphaea oblonga Lindl.

Distribution: Central America.

Ecology: Terrestrial forest herbs, growing in damp, shady places, earth banks or on rocks.

Notes: In habit and in the shape of the flowers (pollen flowers!) Niphaea is very similar to Phinaea and Amalophyllum. Differences to these genera include: chromosome number (n = 11, vs. n = 13), purplish (vs. white-silvery) side veins of leaves, straight (vs. curved) and relatively short filaments (shorter than or as long as anthers), the oblong (vs. subglobose) and parallel (vs. divergent) thecae and the dry, rostrate capsule, with a fringe of stiff hairs on the inner margins of the valves.

Selected references: Wiehler, Gloxinian 52/3: 21-25 (2002), gen. inf.; Boggan et al., Selbyana 29(2): 157-176 (2008), tax., morph.

Tax. details, cytology, and bibliography: Gesneriaceae Resource Centre (GRC). Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Page content and update responsibility/contact: Laurence E. Skog.
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