Commemorating Fabio Colonna (1567–1640), author of the first book to include copperplate illustrations.

Mostly epiphytes and lianes with pendulous stems. Leaves opposite, usually stalked. Flowers solitary or in axillary clusters, in nature pollinated by hummingbirds, mostly red, orange or yellow. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla swollen at the base and gradually broadening towards the tip, 2-lipped, upper lip with a central hooded lobe, the lateral lobes spreading. Stamens 4, united at the base and with an additional sterile stamen. Fruit a succulent berry.

Grown mostly in hanging baskets for the attractive, brightly coloured, tubular flowers and formal foliage.

Semi-hardwood cuttings, layering or, less frequently, fresh seed.

Small leaves in opposite, often unequal pairs along trailing stems.

75 species from tropical America and the WIndies.

Morley (1974), Skog (1979), Dates (1987), Smith (1994).

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Gesneriaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.