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Our Society’s flagship publication, GESNERIADS, the Journal for Gesneriad Growers (formerly called THE GLOXINIAN) has been published continuously for over 50 years. Within
GESNERIADS, you will find a mixture of botanical articles by scientific experts, and horticultural articles by enthusiasts who grow these plants in their homes, gardens, and greenhouses all over the world, illustrated with numerous color photos.
See excerpts here. The journal also publishes reports on local and international activities such as annual conventions, symposia on gesneriads and other meetings; reports on gesneriad-related research, some of which is funded by the Society; and articles about gesneriads in the wild, written by plant explorers and/or members who live in areas where gesneriads grow wild.
Special issues on a single genus (for example, Petrocosmea,
Streptocarpus, Nematanthus) or topic (for
example, Alpines) appear at intervals. A subscription
to GESNERIADS is a benefit
of membership in The Gesneriad Society. Many back
issues of THE GLOXINIAN and GESNERIADS are available for purchase.
Our Order Page includes links to images of the cover
and table of contents of many back issues, so you can
choose back issues covering topics of interest to you.
Some back issues are also available in electronic
format on CD-ROM , and additional CD editions are
planned.
As part of its educational mission, The Gesneriad Society also publishes a range of other materials covering all aspects of
gesneriads, under the auspices of the Publications Committee.
In its role as the International Registration Authority for
gesneriads, the Society publishes Gesneriad Registers, or listings of all the named varieties within a genus.
Several Registers are available.
The Society’s Publications Committee produces educational CD’s, covering a range of topics on the growing, showing, and botany of
gesneriads. These CD’s generally contain PowerPoint files as well as images and text files. They are useful for local Chapter programs, garden club presentations, horticulture classes, and libraries. Starting in 2006, the Committee is producing an annual Convention CD, with PowerPoint files and image files of the Flower Show and various convention speaker programs.
The Society has recently revised and published our manual, "How to Know and Grow Gesneriads", which is now the only general book on gesneriads in print. Purchase it on our site, or on Amazon.com or click here for more information"
The Society is now publishing a free monthly newsletter, available to everyone, called "Gleanings". View recent issues and subscribe here.
Finally, The Gesneriad Society’s Publication Committee is responsible for the production of materials for gesneriad shows, such as our
Manual for Judges and Exhibitors.
If you are interested in volunteering for the Publications Committee to help produce future Gesneriad Society print publications and CD-ROM’s, please contact Jeanne Katzenstein with any questions.
Order from Nancy Kast, Gesneriad Society Publications, 29134 Caddyshack Lane, San Antonio, FL 33576
From THE GLOXINIAN to GESNERIADS
(Adapted from an article by Suzie Larouche, Historian, which appeared in
GESNERIADS First Quarter 2006 issue; GLOXINIAN cover courtesy of Elvin McDonald)
THE GLOXINIAN
Vol. 1
No.1 |
GESNERIADS is the journal of The Gesneriad Society and it proudly maintains the tradition of excellence established by its predecessor, THE GLOXINIAN.
It all began in 1951 because Elvin McDonald, then a fourteen-year-old farm boy in Oklahoma, decided to start a group, the American Gloxinia Society, dedicated to the study of florist gloxinias and the other
gesneriads. THE GLOXINIAN was an apt title for the bi-monthly publication of the young society since florist gloxinias were the mainstay of gesneriad growers. For more than fifty years, THE GLOXINIAN provided a link between members and chapters and was a forum for professionals and serious enthusiasts to share their knowledge and experiences.
At first THE GLOXINIAN was a thin brochure printed on cheap paper, whose cover sometimes boasted a black-and-white photograph, sometimes a simple line drawing. From one issue to the next, the writing was always serious and reflected the state of knowledge at the time. One can read about gesneriad exploration trips, research, discoveries, renaming and hybridizing and rather strangely named would-be hybrids (such as
Stroxinia, a hybrid between
Streptocarpus and Sinningia speciosa.)
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Through the years, the journal has evolved tremendously. There were periods of scant resources during which the printing was done with a minimum of imagery. Color appeared periodically on the cover beginning in the late fifties, but black-and-white was the norm inside, with few photographs. One thing, however, has been consistent from the beginning: the publication has always attracted the most knowledgeable authors to its pages, and reading tables of contents through the many volumes is like reading a who’s who of the gesneriad world over the last fifty years.
Since the mid-1990’s, a thicker journal has become a quarterly and has
included more color photographs than was ever thought possible, thanks in great part to members’ contributions towards color pictures. The trade-off has been the passage to quarterly from bi-monthly.
Order our publicaton--How to Know and Grow Gesneriads
Subscribe to our free monthly newsletter --Gleanings
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