Many a strange tale has been told of the plants we enjoy. Not all of these may be exactly truthful. Not even having the tale published in books may make them so.
Take that delightful South African Gesneriad Streptocarpus rexii, perhaps slipping easier off the tongue when referred to as the Cape Primrose. Even fanciers of these flowers are apt to know them simply as 'Streps.'
First cultivated in Kew greenhouses in 1823
First cultivated in Kew greenhouses in 1823 it had been collected in South Africa's Cape Colony by James Bowie. The son of a London seedsman, he had commenced at Kew in 1810. By 1814, he was sent to South America search for orchids. Two years later Bowie was ordered by Kew to South Africa.
There on the Knysna estate of George Rex he discovered the first of the 'Streps' growing in rocky outcrops on the south coast of the Cape Colony. Despite there are now known 155 species of Streptocarpus, no more were revealed for a further thirty years. Meanwhile, S. rexii was to become immensely popular and give rise to an intriguing tale.
George Rex, after whom it was named at Bowie's request was, to say the least, an interesting character. Today, he would be regarded as a successful, if somewhat eccentric, entrepreneur. Born in Britain about 1765, he spent most of his adult life in South Africa. This was attributed to his being the illegitimate offspring of King George III with Hannah Lightfoot. It was widely believed he had been banished to South Africa and provide with a modest stipend on the understanding he would never again set foot on his native soil. Nor was he to marry. Apparently, he never did either, the latter at least not conventionally.
First settling in Cape Town when the Dutch took it over in 1803, he moved to the more personally salubrious clime of the Western Cape, first settled by a European farmer in the 1770s. There he founded and promoted Knysna, where he had purchased Melkhout Kraal in 1804. By the following year he was master there of 35 slaves . . . and a very loving master for some. A former slave, Johanna Rosina van der Caap, had four children by him. He followed this up by a further nine children with one of her daughters, Carolina Margaretha Ungerer, by a previous master. Rather unsurprisingly he revealed in his will of 1839 that he was unwilling to abide by the matrimonial laws of the Cape.
Despite or perhaps because of these entanglements, George Rex lived to be a ripe old age 73. Today his Knysna is a flourishing town of about 70,000 inhabitants in the Western Cape Province, part of the famous Garden Route. But the accusation that he was one of Queen Victoria's "wicked uncles" is, alas, a fanciful tale. It was not laid to rest until recently, when genetic testing proved it an indisputable falsehood.
If you can keep African Violets, Streps will flourish under your care
Meanwhile his friend James Bowie's greatest contribution to 20th-century gardening has been said to be the Cape Primrose. The original Streptocarpus rexii proved to be as prolific as its namesake. It proved to be particularly floriferous, scattering seed abundantly into surrounding pots and staging.
If you can keep African Violets, Streps will flourish under your care. Along with the many species there are now innumerable hybrids. Many hybrids have attained that ne plus ultra, the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
All have similar cultural requirements. A humus soil kept just moist and never wet. Cool nights and warm days but never high heat, in a 18ºC to 25ºC range. Keep in medium to bright indirect light, not direct sunlight.
Their continuing popularity is demonstrated by numerous societies devoted to their culture and study, some specifically for Streptocarpus, but also combined with other Gesneriaceae.
Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.
