Streptocarpus rexii [1] is a South African plant in the family Gesneriaceae, occurring widely from the southern Cape along the coastal hills, mountains, wooded ravines and valleys, and moist forests of the east coast, through Natal as far north as the Eastern Transvaal, up to an elevation of about 900 m. This genus of epiphytes and lithophytes, of about 130 species, is mainly African and Mascarene, with four vagrant species in Asia.

[2] Streptocarpus, as do other Old World Gesneriaceae, is unusual in that it displays anisocotylous or unequal growth, i.e. one cotyledon continues to grow after germination.

John Lindley disagreed with Hooker's classification, creating a new genus and renaming the plant Streptocarpus rexii when he published plate 1173 in the 1828 edition of The Botanical Register.

Both S. rexii and its hybrids proved to need little pampering in the gardens of Europe and the United States, making them perennially popular.

The tips of the leaves will discolour and break off along abscission lines if stressed by cold or prolonged drought, though overwatering will encourage fungal growth.