Tas. 5588. 
BEGONTA GEerantomes. 
Geranium-leaved Begonia. 
Nat. Ord. Begontacez.—Mone@cia PoLyanpria. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 4172.) 
Brconra (§ Aveustta) geranioides ; herbacea, subacaulis, laxe pilosa, foliis 
orbiculari-reniformibus obscure 7—9-lobis, lobis obtuse crenatis, stipulis 
parvis ovato-lanceolatis ciliatis, cymis paniculatis multifloris, bracteis 
ovatis oblongisve obtusis ciliatis, floribus albis 1 poll. diametro, mase. 
sepalis petalisque 2 fere orbicularibus, staminibus liberis, antheris 
filamento equilongis ; fem. sepalis 2, petalis 3 masculinis consimili- 
bus, ovario 3-ptero, alis angulatis, placentis integris, stylis apice auri- 
culato-2-lobis, extremitatibus stigmatum tortis. 
The genus Begonia, though abounding in both tropical Asia 
and America, is comparatively rare in Africa. In A. De Can- 
dolle’s monograph of the genus (Prodr. vol. xv.), out of upwards 
of three hundred described species, only about five are natives 
of continental Africa, and though a few have subsequently 
been added in this Magazine (B. baccata, Tab. 5554, B. Mannit, 
Tab. 5434), and others, still undescribed, are contained in 
the herbarium, the total number is as yet under a dozen. . 
The present species, which was imported from Port Natal by 
Messrs. Backhouse, of York, and sent by them to the Ma- 
gazine, belongs to the same section with all the other South 
African species, viz. B. Dregei (Tab. nostr. 3720), B. Natalensis 
(Tab. nostr. 4841), and the little-known B. suffruticosa: all 
inhabit the eastern coast and mountains. B. geranioides is 
a very elegant species, and forms a very pretty greenhouse 
ornament. 
Descr. A rather small species; the plant sent by Messrs. 
Backhouse is ten to fourteen inches high, throwing up nume- 
rous flowering stems and a crown of radical leaves. Radical 
leaves three to five inches in diameter, orbicular-reniform, 
obscurely seven to nine-lobed, bilobed at the base ; lobes very 
JUNE Ist, 1866. 
