The Miracle Houseplants

Fülszöveg

PREFACE TO THE NEW, ENLARGED EDITION
During the eight years since the first edition of this work was puhhshed, a tax-onomic cyclone hit the gesneriads as many new species were introduced from the wild and botanists attempted to rearrange many genera and species. We had been cheered by the warm welcome accorded to the book and further reassured when it continued to retain its appeal for gesneriad enthusiasts during the intervening years.
A revision of the work now seemed overdue. Even though none as yet has merited wide popularity, we had to note the introduction of a number of new species. Of the numerous proposals establishing new genera and the transfer of many older species to different genera, some have been widely accepted by leading botanists as sufficiently justified. Others are still in limbo, not totally rejected yet viewed with suspicion as lacking a sound basis. Nevertheless, they cannot be ignored. There are many new cultivars and as many old ones that are no longer... Tovább

Fülszöveg

PREFACE TO THE NEW, ENLARGED EDITION
During the eight years since the first edition of this work was puhhshed, a tax-onomic cyclone hit the gesneriads as many new species were introduced from the wild and botanists attempted to rearrange many genera and species. We had been cheered by the warm welcome accorded to the book and further reassured when it continued to retain its appeal for gesneriad enthusiasts during the intervening years.
A revision of the work now seemed overdue. Even though none as yet has merited wide popularity, we had to note the introduction of a number of new species. Of the numerous proposals establishing new genera and the transfer of many older species to different genera, some have been widely accepted by leading botanists as sufficiently justified. Others are still in limbo, not totally rejected yet viewed with suspicion as lacking a sound basis. Nevertheless, they cannot be ignored. There are many new cultivars and as many old ones that are no longer being grown extensively. Above all, we felt that a new edition would help clear up some of the inevitable confusion of amateur growers regarding the names of their plants and the availability of many species and cultivars from nursery sources.
It is fun to grow gesneriads. It is no fun at all to wrestle with all the shifts in the taxonomy of the family and to fit them in the older text without giving our publisher economic megrims. It was far easier to deal with new developments, for which we have been provided additional space with a new chapter, our Gesneriad Update. Altogether, though scars and bandages may show here and there, we feel that we have covered our subject sufficiently well to retain the loyalty of our knowledgeable readers.
You will not find every single species that has been discovered, but certainly most of those that have promise as houseplants. We foresee that many more will be discovered and described in due time, especially from the relatively uncharted gesneriad world of the orient. Of these, too, only a few will be successful in attracting the attention of hobbyists for long. Even in so large and wonderful a family as the Gesnehaceae, the winners are always few in number. We would wish it different of course. But at least this fact increases the likelihood that our new edition, like the first, will survive intact for a stretch of years and contribute to the spread of interest in gesneriads.
Working through the complexities of name changes, Mrs. Frances Batcheller has, as usual, been of immeasurable assistance. Others who have been most forthcoming are Dr. Margaret Stone and Mrs. Helen Beaufort-Murphy for their valuable lists in The Gloxinian, and Miss Judy Becker for advice on Columneas.
We offer our warmest thanks to Mrs. Renee White. The Gloxinian has always been a fine publication but never more so than since she assumed the editorship. She has been at all times generous with assistance and we owe a number of our lists to the pages of The Gloxinian.
Our editor for the new edition, Brandt Aymar, has shepherded a number of our other books through the final stages and deserves all our thanks for his patience with this one.
We have incorrectly given credit for many of the illustrations to the L. H. Bailey Hortorium of Cornell University. All of these were owned and supplied to us by Dr. Stone. We apologize to her and are deeply grateful for her generosity in making the photographs available for publication.
Xlll Vissza