x.c,1 Merrill: New or Noteworthy Philippine Plants, XI 45 
recently received a fruiting specimen of Lamark’s species from Malacca, 
and consider the Philippine plant to be specifically identical with the 
Malacca one. The genus is new to the Philippines. 
BEGONIACEAE 
BEGONIA Linnaeus 
BEGONIA ALBA sp. nov. § Diploclinium. 
Herba parce bruneo-setosa praesertim partibus junioribus; 
foliis longe petiolatis, subreniformibus vel subrotundatis, inte- 
gris vel leviter undulatis, basi profunde subaequaliter cordatis, 
palmatim 7- vel 9-nerviis; floribus masculinis paucis, albis, cir- 
citer 2.5 cm diametro, bracteis orbicularibus, deciduis; stami- 
nibus circiter 20. 
A succulent herb, the rhizome creeping, rather slender, gla- 
brous or nearly so, the stipules persistent only at the growing tip, 
sparingly brown-setose, ovate, acuminate, submembranaceous, 
about 1.5 cm long. Petioles up to 30 cm in length, glabrous, or 
when young with few, long, scattered, brown, setose hairs. 
Leaves chartaceous when dry, pale-brownish, orbicular or sub- 
reniform, up to 15 cm long and 17 cm wide, entire or the 
margins slightly undulate, very broadly rounded, subequilateral, 
the base deeply and subequally cordate, the sinus very narrow, 
up to 4 cm deep, the basal lobes very broadly rounded, the upper 
surface glabrous, the lower with long scattered, brown hairs 
when young, becoming glabrous or nearly so, the margins dis- 
tinctly brown-setose; nerves 7 or 9, radiating from the base, 
prominent, forked, the lateral ones above the base 2, rarely 3 
pairs; petioles up to 30 cm in length, brown-setose when young, 
becoming glabrous. Scape rather slender, 20 cm long or less, 
the staminate flowers few, subumbellately cymose at the apex of 
the peduncle, the primary branches 2 or 3, 1 cm long or less. 
Bracts prominent, orbicular or subreniform, membranaceous, 
deciduous, white, about 6 mm in diameter, two subtending each 
flower. Staminate flowers: Sepals 2, elliptic to elliptic-orbi- 
cular, broadly rounded, about 12 mm long. Petals 2, oblong- 
oblanceolate, about 10 mm long, narrowed below. Stamens 
about 20; filaments 1 mm long; anthers narrowly obovoid, as 
long as the filaments. Pistillate flowers and fruits not seen. 
Luzon, Subprovince of Ifugao, Mount Polis, Bur. Sci. 19968 McGregor, 
February, 1913. 
A very characteristic species, at once distinguishable by its nearly 
equilateral, entire, deeply and subequally cordate leaves, and by its few, 
comparatively large, white flowers. In vegetative characters it resembles 
Begonia suborbiculata Merr., of Palawan, but is entirely different from 
that species in its floral characters. 
