BEGONIA 



THE BULBiBOOK 



BEGONIA 



B. stricta.— 12 ins. Blue, white. 

 May. {Bot. Mag. tt. 621, 638.) The 

 variety angustijolia has bright blue 

 flowers tinged with pink at the 

 base ; ruhro-q/anea {Bot. Mag. t. 410) 

 has blossoms 2 ins. or more across, 

 brilliant blue with a deep crimson 

 zone at the base ; sulphvrea {Bot. 

 Mag. t. 1053), creamy or pale yellow ; 

 and vi/losa {Bot. Mag. t. 583), bril- 

 liant crimson. 



B. tenuifiora.— G ins. Purple. May. 



B. Thunbergi. — 12 ins. White and 

 red. 



B. tubiflora. — 6 ins. Deep red. 

 {Bot. Mag. tt. 847, 1019.) 



BEGONIA (after M. Begon, a French 

 patron of botany). Nat. Ord. Be- 

 goniaceai. — A genus containing up- 

 wards of 350 species of juicy herbs or 

 undershrubs, many having perennial, 

 tuberous root-stocks. Leaves more or 

 less unequal-sided, entire, lobed or 

 parted, irregularly toothed. Flowers 

 often showy, monoecious. Male 

 flowers consisting of two large outer 

 (sepaloid), and two small inner (petal- 

 oid), segments. Stamens numerous, 

 free, or united in one bundle. Peri- 

 anth of the female flowers has two 

 to ten segments, of which the two 

 outer ones are larger and sepaloid. 

 Ovary inferior, often three-, rarely 

 two-, or four- to five-celled. Styles 

 two to four, free, or united at the 

 base, with branched, twisted stigmas. 

 Fruit a capsule, usually three-angled 

 and unequally three-winged. Seeds 

 numerous, minute. 



The fibrous-rooted Begonias, which 

 constitute an important group by 

 themselves, are not considered in this 

 volume dealing with bulbous and 

 tuberous X)lants. 



The tuberous Begonia may now be 

 looked upon as one of the most 

 I)opular of garden flowers, both for 

 the decoration of the conservatory or 



greenhouse and for the flower-border 

 during the summer months. Indeed, 

 many prefer them for bedding-out 

 purposes to the Zonal Pelargoniums, 

 considering them more ornamental in 

 foliage, more durable in blossom, 

 more pleasing in colour, and more easily 

 preserved during the winter months. 

 With the exception perhaps of the 

 Cactus Dahlia, the tuberous Begonia 

 has responded more readily than any 

 other plant in cultivation to the art 

 of the hybridist. Thirty years ago 

 the i^lants were just beginning to 

 attract popular attention, as a certain 

 number of hybrid forms had been put 

 into commerce ; and since that time 

 marvellous strides have been made in 

 the evolution and development of 

 varieties with blossoms of great size 

 and substance, and as double as the 

 finest hollyhock or rose. 



These results have not been 

 achieved from one species only, but 

 from about half a dozen. The first 

 natural species concerned in the 

 parentage of the florists' Begonia was 

 introduced from Bolivia in 1857, and 

 was named B. holiviensis {Bot. Mag. t. 

 5657). It had scarlet flowers. Eight 

 years later, in 1865, a yellow-flowered 

 species {B. Pearcei) came from the 

 same country, and was followed in 

 1867 with the introduction of B. rosce- 

 Jlora {Bot. Mag. t. 5680), with bright 

 rose-coloured flowers, from the Andes 

 of Peru. The fourth parent, B. Clarkei 

 {Bot. Mag. t. 5675), also with rose 

 ])lossoms, came from the Bolivian 

 Andes in 1867. In the same year B. 

 Veitchi {Bot. Mag. t. 5663), with scarlet 

 or orange flowers, arrived from the 

 Peruvian highlands ; while the sixth 

 and last parent, B. Davisi {Bot. Mag. 

 t. 6252), with crimson-scarlet blossoms, 

 Avas not introduced to cultivation till 

 1876, nearly twenty years after the 

 first parent, IL holiviensis. In their 

 native habitats the si^ecies mentioned 



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