Was I too early in recommending Chirita plants of the future a couple of years ago?

If you have tried Cape Primroses, also called Streptocarpus, then you may also want to try the cousin Chirita. They have hairy leaves similar to African violets and flowers that are similar Streptocarpus.

Gesneriaceae species include: Cyrtandra, Didymocarpus, Streptocarpus, Alloplectus, Achimenes, Chirita, Henckelia, Gasteranthus, Sinningia, Kohleria. There is still no definitive text in English.

What is a Chirita

• Chirita belong to the little know Gesneriad family but contains 150 Chirita species. Some are now being classified as Primulina tamiana
• Chiritas can be acquired from the specialist www.dibleys.com They also produce an excellent compact A5 plant catalogue
• Propagation is easy from leaf cuttings in an equal mixture of compost and vermiculite, pearlite or sharp sand.
• Keep plants out of direct sunlight, a north facing windowsill or porch is ideal
• Plants can stay in the same pot for several years if they are give a regular week feed.
• Keep plants a bit on the dry side and treat like African violets
• Chirita Akiro like several varieties has interesting leaves
• For small neat pure white Chirita taminiana is well recommended
• For larger flowers try C. Keiko shown below with up to 25 two inch flowers from

Chirita Growing Tips

• Plant in compost that is airy adding perlite if it tends to compact then leave undisturbed for a couple of seasons.
• Be careful not to over-water letting compost virtually dry our between watering.
• Good drainage is a necessity. Place hortag or gravel in the dish to hold water and increase the humidity. Make sure the pot is sitting on the gravel and not in the water.

Chirita are Houseplants with a future as long as the name changers do not get too involved. Most of the species have been discovered recently and in the future cross breeding is likely to produce new varieties.

Credits
Primulina tamiana by nipplerings72 CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 previously called Chirita tamiana
2012_90 Chirita sp. by Plant Hunter Subedi CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Chirita sp. by Nick Turland CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Read Growing Chirita Houseplants