Boea

Boea
Boea hygroscopica
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Gesneriaceae
Subfamily: Didymocarpoideae
Genus: Boea
Comm. ex Lam.
Type species
Boea magellanica
Lam.
Species

See here

Synonyms
  • Chleterus Raf.

Boea is a genus of plants in the family Gesneriaceae native to Australia, China, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Polynesia, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Some Boea species are known as types of resurrection plant due to their ability to survive desiccation (e.g. Boea hygroscopica).

Description

Boea hemsleyana flowers
Boea hygroscopica growing in Wooroonooran National Park, Queensland, Australia

Boea are perennial, lithophytic or terrestrial, caulescent or rosulate, rhizomatous herbs. The sepals are free. The petals are pink to purple. The anthers are strongly divergent. The fruit is twisted.

Cytology

The chromosome count is 2n = 16, 32.

Taxonomy

It was described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1785 based on previous work by Philibert Commerson. The type species is Boea magellanica Lam.

Etymology

The genus may be named in honour of Mlle Beau, the niece of a friend of Philibert Commerson. It may also be named after M. le Beau, the brother-in-law of Philibert Commerson who first collected a Boea species.

Species

12 species are accepted:

Distribution and habitat

The centre of the distribution is eastern Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Cultivation

The frost tender Boea may be grown in partial shade in humus-rich substrates. It can be propagated by seed and by leaf cuttings or division.

References

  1. 1 2 Missouri Botanical Garden. (n.d.). Boea Comm. ex Lam. Tropicos. Retrieved July 10, 2026, from https://www.tropicos.org/name/40028652
  2. 1 2 3 Boea Comm. ex Lam. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  3. ↑ Skog, L.E. & J.K. Boggan. 2007. World Checklist of Gesneriaceae. Washington, DC: Dept. of Botany, Smithsonian Institution.
  4. ↑ Jiang, G et al. 2007. Planta, May 2007, Volume 225, Issue 6, pp 1405-1420
  5. ↑ Navari-Izzo, F et al. 2006. Physiologica Plantarum, Unusual composition of thylakoid membranes of the resurrection plant Boea hygroscopica: Changes in lipids upon dehydration and rehydration, Volume 94, Issue 1, pages 135–142, May 1995
  6. 1 2 Boea in Flora of China @ efloras.org. (n.d.). Retrieved July 10, 2026, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=104148
  7. 1 2 3 4 Puglisi, C. & Middleton, David. (2017). A REVISION OF BOEA (GESNERIACEAE). Edinburgh Journal of Botany. 75. 19-49. 10.1017/S0960428617000336.
  8. 1 2 Weber, A., & Skog, L. E. (2007, January 5). Boea. The Genera of Gesneriaceae. Basic Information With Illustration of Selected Species. Ed. 2. Retrieved July 10, 2026, from http://www.genera-gesneriaceae.at/genera/boea.htm
  9. ↑ Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine de Monet de, & Poiret, Jean-Louis-Marie. (1783). Encyclopédie méthodique. Botanique (Vol. 1, p. 401). Panckoucke;Plomteux. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/716993
  10. ↑ Genus: Boea. (n.d.). Alpine Garden Society. Retrieved July 10, 2026, from http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Boea