The family name is based on the genus Gesneria, which honours Swiss naturalist and humanist Conrad Gessner.

Gesneriaceae have traditionally been separated from Scrophulariaceae by having a unilocular rather than bilocular ovary, with parietal rather than axile placentation.

[9] Botanists who have made significant contributions to the systematics of the family are George Bentham, Robert Brown, B.L.

Clarke, Olive Mary Hilliard, Joseph Dalton Hooker, William Jackson Hooker, Karl Fritsch, Elmer Drew Merrill, Harold E. Moore Jr., John L. Clark, Conrad Vernon Morton, Henry Nicholas Ridley, Laurence Skog, W.T.

[10] From about 1997 onwards, molecular phylogenetic studies led to extensive changes in the classification of the family Gesneriaceae and its genera, many of which have been re-circumscribed or synonymized.

[11][12] Peltanthera Calceolariaceae Sanangoideae (Sanango) Titanotricheae (Titanotrichum) Napeantheae (Napeanthus) Beslerieae Coronanthereae Gesnerieae Epithemateae Trichosporeae A phylogenomic study published in 2021 which used 418 nuclear genes confirmed the monophyly of all the subfamilies and tribes.

The position of Titanotricheae varied according to the method used to build the cladogram, which the authors suggested was due to incomplete lineage sorting following rapid divergence.

However, molecular phylogenetic studies published up to and including 2021 suggest that it does belong in the family as the most basal member, and it is placed in its own subfamily.

[15] No single morphological feature absolutely divides two main subfamilies (i.e. forms a uniform synapomorphy).

[12] Genera accepted by Plants of the World Online (PoWO) as of August 2024[update] are listed below,[16] together with their placement in a subfamily and tribe by Weber et al.

About half of the New World species (i.e. the subfamily Gesnerioideae) are co-adapted to bird pollination, particularly by hummingbirds in the Americas.

Bird-pollinated species typically have two-lipped flowers in shades of red; examples are found in the genera Asteranthera, Columnea and Sinningia.