The Silver Spring Penguin

Photo: Beauties at the Gesneriad Society convention. Courtesy of Flickr user More Water. Reposted with permission.

A rose by any other name is still a rose, but an African violet is a gesneriad. That’s right, I said gesneriad (pronounced jez-NARE-ee-ad or whatever).

The botanical society dedicated to such plants showed off its stuff last weekend at Silver Spring’s Hilton Hotel on Colesville Road.

Some of the convention was strictly for A-listers, who enjoyed lectures on pollinators and floral evolution in Caribbean gesneriads, and knowing and growing the genus Chirita.

But the society’s plant show and sale were open to the public. That’s where hardcore gesneriad breeders displayed slick species, like those pictured below. Click on the thumbnails for a better view, or visit this Flickr page for more pics.

While the national society won’t convene again on the East Coast until 2011 in Philly, the local chapter gets down in September at the National Arboretum. Check out the chapter’s blog for more information.