Tab. 5680. 



BEGONIA hosjsploea. 

 Hose-flowered Begonia. 



Nat. Ord. BEGcmiACE;E. — Motstceoia. Poltawdbia. 

 Gen. Char. {Vide supra, Tab. 4131.) 



Begonia (§ Huszia) rosaflora; acaulis, foliis omnibus radicalibus crasse 

 petiolatis orbiculari-reuiformibus basi profunde 2-Iobis conoavis, niar- 

 ginibus recurvis lobulatis dentatis ciliolatis rubro-marginatis, supra 

 nervis radiantibus impressis bullatis, subtus pallidis, nervis robustis 

 pilosis, stipulis membranaceis, scapis erectis robustis laxe villosis 

 rubris sub-3-floris, bracteis bracteolisque late oblongia obtusis, floribus 

 amplis breviuscule pedicellatis 5-petalis, petalis late roseis orbicu- 

 laris emarginatis, filamentis liberis, antheris brevibus latis obtusis, 

 ovario 3-loculari piloso, placentis 2-fidis etlobulatis undique ovuliferis, 

 stylis 3 2-furcatis, cruribus fascia papillosa torta cinctis. 



This lovely plant is the second species of Begonia allied 

 to B. Veitchii (Tab. 5663), which I alluded to under B. 

 Clarkei (Tab. 5675), and about the specific distinctness of 

 which I expressed my doubts. In all respects it is much 

 more closely allied to B. Feitchii than to B. Clarkei, being 

 stemless, with similarly concave leaves and few-flowered 

 scapes ; it differs, however very conspicuously, in the stouter 

 red petioles and scapes, in the broader rounder leaves, with 

 very deeply impressed veins (and hence bullate upper surface), 

 in the broad obtuse stipules and bracts, in the villous scape, 

 in the blunt bracteoles close under each flower, in the more 

 numerous flowers, which are of a pale red, like those of the 

 Briar Rose (not the vivid cinnabar-red of B. Veitchii), and in 

 the acute wing of the hairy ovary. So many and such con- 

 spicuous characters would amongst less variable plants than 

 Begonias abundantly establish these species as distinct, and 

 whether they prove permanent or no, it appears particularly- 

 desirable to publish good figures of all these forms on their 

 arrival, and before they fall into the hands of the hybridizers, 



DECEMBER IsT, 1SG7. 



