518 Liiir. 7?i;g().>i.vci;.i:. 



Order LXlll. BEGONIACE^. 



Succulent lierbs, sometimes shrubs ; stem sometimes reduced to a 

 rhi/.otne or tuber. Leaves alternate, more or less inequilateral, entire, 

 lobed or dip^itately partite, usually dentate ; stipules 2, free, usually 

 caducous. Flowers handsome, white or rosy (rarely yellow or red), 

 unsymmetrical, moncecious ; peduncles axillary, bracteate, divided into 

 dicliotomous 1- or 2-sexual cymes ; bracts and bracteoles usually 

 opposite. Ma.le flowers : Perianth-segments (of the only Indian 

 genus) 2 or 4 in pairs, the outer pair valvate, the inner (when present) 

 smaller. Stamens numerous, inserted on a more or less convex torus ; 

 filaments free or connate ; anihers linear-oblong or clavate. Rudi- 

 inentary ovary 0. Female flowers : Perianth-segments 2-5, of which 

 the 2 exterior are larger and sepaloid. Staminodes 0. Ovary inferior, 

 iisuiilly 3- (rarely 2- or 4-) celled; ovules numerous, crowded on axile 

 placentas ; styles 2-4, free or connate at the base ; stigmas branched 

 or tortuous. Fruit capsular, loculicidally (rarely septicidally) dehiscent, 

 less commonly a fleshy berry breaking up irregularlj% usually 3-celled 

 and 8-gonous, often winged, more rarely 2- or 4-celled. Seeds numerous, 

 minute ; albumen scanty or 0. — Distbib. Tropical America, Asia, and 

 Tropical and South Africa, not in Australia ; genera 2, of which one 

 only (Begonia) occurs in India ; species about 400, of which the genus 

 Begonia contains 398. 



1. BEGONIA, T.iiin. 

 Characters of the Order. 



Fruit not winged. 



Fruit 4-cellecl, 4-angled 1. B. Boxhw-ghii. 



Fruit winged. 

 Capsule "i-celled. 



Leaves crenate-dentnte, scarcely oblique at the base, 



whitish beneath 2. B.crcnata. 



Leaves nearly entire, ciliate, very oblique at the base, 



bloodred beneath 3. B. integrifoUa. 



Ca]")sule 3-celled. 



Flowers rosy ; wings of capsule unequal 4. B. conranensis. 



Flowers wliite; wings of capsule subequal 5. B. irkhocarpa. 



1. Begonia Roxburghii, A. DC. Pro<h\ v. 15, part 1 (18fi4) 

 p. 398. A stout succulent plant 1-3 ft. high ; root tibrous ; stems 

 many, erect, often nearly as thick as the thumb, striate, pubescent when 

 young, afterwards glabrous. Leaves very unequal at the base, 6-12 by 

 4-8 in., ovate, acuminate, irregularly dentate, glabrous or minutely 

 pubescent on the nerves, very obliquely cordate at the bnse, strongly 

 nerved; petioles 3-9 in. long; stipules oblong-lanceolate, glabrous, 

 deciduous. Flowers fragrant, \^hite or very pale pink, in short 

 dichotomous few- or many-flowered cymes ; bracts linear-lanceolate. 

 Male flowers : Sepals 2, orbicular, glabrous. Petals 2, smaller than 

 the sepals. Stamens about 50. Female flowers : Ovary 4-celled ; 

 placentas equally 2-partite ; styles 4, bifid almost from the base ; 

 etigmas spirally twisted. Fruit subpyramidal «ith tliick walls, 4-celled, 

 4-angled, the angles obtuse, each ending in a small horn upwards. 



