Tar. 6926. 



BEGONIA OTCLOPHTLLA. 



Native of South China. 



Nat. Ord. Begoniaceje. 

 Genus Begonia, Linn.; (Benth. et HooJc.f. Gen. PI. vol. i. p. 811.) 



Bkgonta cyclopJiylla ; tuberosa, folio solitario amplo membranaceo rotundato- 

 cordato obtuso palmatim 7-9-nervi, lobis basi incumbentibus supra et infra ad 

 jipivos reticulatiy sparse hirtello, petiolo hirto, stipulis oblongis fimbriato- 

 ciliatis, scapo gracili, C3ina pluriflora, flnribus roseis odoris, masc. sepalis 

 rotundatis, petalis obovato-spathulatis, filamentis in columnam brevem connatis, 

 antheris capitatis parvis obovatis apice rotundatis, fl. fern, minoribus, sepalis 

 2 semicircularibus, petalo solitario multo minore oblongo concavo, stylis 3 2- 

 fidis, lobis fascia continua spiraliter torta circumdatis, capsula trigona 3-loculari 

 ala majore triangulari, minoribus lineaiibus. 



I have advanced this as a new species with much hesita- 

 tion, because it was sent by Mr. Ford from the Hongkong 

 Botanical Gardens under the' name of B. jimbristipula, 

 Tlance (in Lond. Journ. Bot. 1883, p. 202), and because it 

 agrees with the character of that plant in so many particu- 

 lars that it appeared to me possible that it might be a 

 gigantic form of it, with characters acquired under cultiva- 

 tion. On referring, however, to the Kew Herbarium, I 

 find authentically named specimens of B. Jimbristipula from 

 Lofaushan (on the coast opposite to Hongkong) which 

 show it to be a diminutive very slender little species, two to 

 three inches high, with an ovate cordate acuminate sharply 

 doubly-toothed leaf of a deep red purple colour, and a one- 

 or two-flowered scape. The Lofaushan specimens agree 

 .very well with Hance's description, except that I do not 

 find the under surface of the leaf to be lepidote, and that 

 the outer male sepals are orbicular rather than oblong, and 

 that the petiole is sometimes longer than the limb of the leaf. 

 Specimens from Tingushan, on the Canton river, also in the 

 Kew Herbarium, and cited as B. Jimbristipula by Hance, 

 are many times larger than the above, with a branched 

 cyme as in B. cydophyUa, but the leaves are of the same 



march 1st, 1887. 



