ME. 0. B. CLAEKE ON INDIAN BEGONIAS. 115 



are employed as characters of primary value, while the dehiscence 

 of the capsule is altogether passed by. I have been unable to 

 attach high importance to the characters of the styles and stamens ; 

 while, by paying attention to the dehiscence of the capsule, I have 

 thrown the whole mass of Begonia into six subgenera which appear 

 to me eminently natural. 



The following tables represent the arrangement of the Indian 

 species, the essential sectional characters being more especially 

 referred to. 



Subgenus I. Caspaeta. Fruit 4- (3-)celled, indehiscent, or in 

 B. jRoxburghii irregularly subdehiscent at the angles. Stout 

 plants with stout fruits. Placentae bifid. Fruits round, or an- 

 gular, or horned, but not with any thin papery wing. 



1. B. Eoxbueghii, A. DC. Fruit 4-celled, 4-angled, with very 

 thick walls, succulent, ultimately deliquescent. — Fig. 1. 



2. B. tesseeicaepa, C. B. Clarke. Only known from Griffith's 

 No. 2586 ; differs from B. Boxlurghii by the less succulent, more 

 leathery fruit. — Fig. 2. 



3. B. silhetensis, C. B. Clarke. Fruit 4-celled, ellipsoid, with 

 very thick walls, almost woody. Fruit figured from Griffith No. 

 2569. — Fig. 3. The placenta? are not known, and this species is 

 perhaps altogether remote from Casparya. 



4. B. inflata, C. B. Clarke. Fruit 3-celled, with a slender 

 rib down the back of each cell, leathery. Fruit figured from 

 Griffith No. 2587.— Fig. 4. 



5. B. Dux, C. B. Clarke. Fruit unknown (arranged here by 

 the habit only). 



Subgenus II. Paevibegonia (character widened). Capsule 

 2- (3-)eelled, indehiscent. Slender herbs with slender capsules, 

 the walls whereof are papery, breaking up irregularly. Placenta? 

 bifid, and sometimes simple. 



Section A. Ovary and capsule 2-celled. Capsule with three 

 wings, whereof one is often larger than the others. The two faces 

 adjacent to the broader wing have no mesial line, i. e. they have no 

 septum attached to their middle within. 



6. B. YERTICTLLA.TA, Hook./, — Fig. 5. 



7. B. pbolifeba, A. DC— Fig. 6. 



2i 



