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.Skog, L.E. & J.K. Boggan. 2007. World Checklist of Gesneriaceae. Washington, DC: Dept. of Botany, Smithsonian Institution. Some Boea species are known as types of resurrection plant due to their ability to survive desiccation (e.g. Boea hygroscopica).Jiang, G et al. 2007. Planta, May 2007, Volume 225, Issue 6, pp 1405-1420Navari-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
Description
Boea are perennial, lithophytic or terrestrial, caulescent or rosulate, rhizomatous herbs.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 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.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
Taxonomy It was described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1785 based on previous work by Philibert Commerson.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 The type species is Boea magellanica Etymology The genus may be named in honour of Mlle Beau, the niece of a friend of Philibert Commerson.Puglisi, C. & Middleton, David. (2017). A REVISION OF BOEA (GESNERIACEAE). Edinburgh Journal of Botany. 75. 19-49. 10.1017/S0960428617000336. 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.Genus: Boea. (n.d.). Alpine Garden Society. Retrieved July 10, 2026, from http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Boea
References