o- 
» 
480 _ BEGONIACE (Sond.) [ Begonia. 
Stamens numerous, about equalling the perianth. Style filiform; stigmas 
3-6, radiating. Berry globose, smooth, crowned with the dried up 
limb of the perianth. Seeds numerous, exalbuminous ; cotyledons short, 
acute. Endl. Gen. 5160. 
Slender, epiphytical succulents, growing on forest trees, with whip-like or expanded 
and leaf-like, often articulate stems, and small lateral flowers. Name from pu), a 
willow-branch ; from the long, flexuous branches. 
1, BR. cassytha ? (Gaern. ; Pfeiff. Enum. Cact. p. 133) ; stem erect or 
creeping, at length woody ; branches slender, green, terete, pendulous, 
more or less verticillate, remotely scaly, obtuse. DC. Prodr. 3. p. 476. 
Bot. Mag. t. 3080. Cactus flagelliformis, E. Mey. in Herb. Drege. 
Has. Between the Omtata and Omsamwubo, Drege. Caffirland, J. Backhouse. 
Whether or not Drege’s plant belong to the common 2. cassytha, which is found 
in the Mauritius as well as in the West Indies, or to a new species I cannot say. 
Mr. Backhouse, travelling in Caffirland in 1838, observed a Rhipsalis on trees, which 
no doubt was the same as what Drege collected. We have not seen specimens from 
either collector. 
Orver LVII. BEGONIACEZ, R. Br. 
(By W. Sorprr.) 
Flowers unisexual, monecious. Male: Perianth petaloid, 4-leaved, 
the two outer sepals larger, roundish. Stamens indefinitely numerous, 
occupying the centre of the flower ; filaments short ; anthers extrorse, 
2-celled, the cells adnate to the edges of a thickened connective. Female: 
Perianth corolloid, with a 3-winged tube adhering to the ovary, the 
limb 4-9 parted, with imbricate estivation. Ovary inferior, 3-celled ; 
ovules very numerous, attached to axile placentae. Stigmas 3, subsessile, 
bifid, incrassated, tortuous or capitate. Capsule membranous, crowned 
with the withered perianth limb, 3-winged, 3-celled, opening by slits at 
the base of each wing ; seeds very numerous, minute, oblong, exalbu- 
minous ; cotyledons very short ; radicle long, next the hilum. 
Herbaceous or half-shrubby plants, with succulent stems and foliage. Branches 
swollen at the nodes. Leaves alternate, petiolate, simple, palmate-nerved, entire or 
lobed, very generally unequal-sided or semi-cordate at base, variously toothed, often 
covered with membranous scales and brightly coloured on the under surface. Stipules 
e ibranous, free. Inflorescence cymose. Natives chiefly of the tropics of 
Asia and America ; very few African. The roots are astringent and slightly bitter, 
and occasionally employed in medicine. 
I. BEGONIA, L. 
Capsule opening by arched or longitudinal slits along the face of the 
loculi. Placente from the inner angle of the loculi. A. DC. in An. Se. 
Wat. Ser. 4. Vol. XI. p. 119. 
A large genus, abundant in Asia and America, but in Africa, where until 
y they were unknown. Many are denatvedly tavourites in cultivation as orna- 
mental stove-plants. The name is i f 
fhétany im thes FF in honor of Michael Begon, a French patron ° 
ANALYSIS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIES, 
Stems herbaceous : 
Leaves reniform-cordate ; stipules ovate, obtuse. - 
late ; wings of the fruit subequal : Z aes (1) Dregei. 
