Gloxinia perennis is the original (type) species of the genus, and for much of its history the genus consisted of only G. perennis and a very small number of other species. The classification of Gloxinia later changed reflect the 1976 classification of Hans Woehler, who took a broader view of the genus.^[2] A recent analysis of Gloxinia and related genera based on molecular and morphological work has determined that Woehler's circumscription of the genus was unnatural, both phylogenetically and morphologically.^[3] The analyses demonstrated that the genera Ano discus and Koelliker Ia, each with a single species, were more closely related to Gloxinia perennis than were any of the other species included in Gloxinia by Woehler, several of which proved to be more closely related to other genera (particularly Diastema, Monopiles, and Phinaea). As a result of this work, most former Gloxinia species have been transferred to other genera while Koellikeria erinoides and Anodiscus xanthophyllus have been transferred into a much more narrowly defined Gloxinia consisting of only three species, all of them characterized by having a raceme-like flowering stem.