A study is made of the tribe Gesnerieae of the family Gesneriaceae from the West Indies, giving information on history, anatomy and morphology, pollination and dispersal, and hybridization in the tribe. The tribe comprises 67 species in 3 genera: Rhytidophyllum, Gesneria, and Pheidonocarpa. The last genus is described as new, with a new species combination, Pheidonocarpa corymbosa (Swartz) L. Skog, and 2 subspecies. A revision of Gesneria Linnaeus is presented based on field and herbarium studies. Gesneria is divided into 9 sections, 46 species (a new species, Gesneria onychocalyx L. Skog, is described), 12 subspecies, and 11 varieties. The taxonomic portion includes keys, synonymies, descriptions, typifications, distributions, and ecology, as well as distribution maps and illustrations of the taxa. Also enumerated in Appendix 1 are many species names once included in Gesnera or Gesneria, but which have been transferred to other genera. Two new combinations are made in this portion of the text: Rhytidophyllum cumanense (Hanstein) L. Skog and Rhytidophyllum onacaense (Rusby) L. Skog.