HYBEID EEX BEGONIAS 



Fig. 2581. Bertha McGregor. 

 (Hybrid Rex.) 



I^HE new hybrid Rex Begonias of re- 

 cent introduction are certainly quite 

 an acquisition and improvement on 

 the true and original type of Rex Begonia.s, 

 more especially for window gardening. The 

 new hybrid Rex have quite a dash of the 

 shrubby begonia type in them, the habit of 

 growth, form of foliage, as well as the more 

 glabrous or glossy surface of their leaves, 

 show most decidedly the characteristics of 

 Begonia Diadema, a favorite shrubby be- 

 gonia still with many plant growers. 



The variety. Bertha McGregor (Fig. 

 2581), is a splendid variety for the window, 

 and shows strong traces of Begonia Dia- 

 dema parentage, its leaves being deeply cut 

 and very similarly marked to Begonia Dia- 

 dema. Begonia Mrs. A. G. Shepherd is 

 another showy easy grown variety, the cen- 

 tre of its large glossy leaves being of a 



bright silvery grey, beautifully margined 

 with an emerald bronze-shaded green, with 

 distinctive white spots dotted here and there. 

 (Fig. 2582). 



But the gem of all, in my opinion, is the 

 variety known as Lady Annesley (Fig. 

 2583). Its delicately cut and sharply 

 pointed leaves that glimmer and glisten like 

 frosted silver, with a soft sheen of pink 

 scarcely perceptible on the silvery ground 

 color, together with the delicate tracings of 

 reddish green leaf veins and leaf stem, are 

 features that make this variety pleasingly 

 conspicuous amongst the many beautiful 

 varieties of the Rex Begonia. All of these 

 begonias mentioned have the upright habit 

 of the shrubby begonia, and are 

 easier grown than most of the rough or 



Fig 2582. Mrs. A. G. Shepherd. 

 (Hybrid Rex). 



