Begwiia.~\ LXVI. BEGONIACEJ;. (C. B. Clarke.) 635 



VAR. ? Hookeri ; seeds without any wing, KhJKa Mts., alt. 3000-4800 ft. ; 

 J. D. H.-~ The example is a stout leafless one with large ripe fruits. The seeds are 

 in situ in the capsule so that the wing cannot have been broken off (as happens with 

 seeds of Zanonia kept separate). This may be an accidental var. of A. clavigera or it 

 may be a new species. 



OBDEB LXVI, BEGONI ACEJE. (By 0. B. Clarke.) 



Succulent herbs or undershrubs ; stem often reduced to a rhizome or tuber. 

 Leaves alternate (sometimes falsely whorled in JB. verticillata), more or less 

 unequal-sided, entire toothed or lobed ; stipules 2, free, frequently deciduous. 

 Peduncles axillary, divided into dichotomous cymes, the branches and bracts 

 at their divisions generally opposite. Flowers white rose or yellow, showy, 

 sometimes small, monoecious. MALE : perianth (of the only Indian genus) of 2 

 outer valvate opposite sepaloid segments, and 2-0 inner smaller segments ; 

 stamens indefinite often very many, free or monadelphous, anthers narsowly 

 obovoid. FEMALE: perianth (of the only Indian genus) of 5-2 segments. 

 Ovary inferior (in Hildebrandia half-superior), 2-3-4-celled ; placentas vertical, 

 axile (at the time of aestivation), divided or simple ; styles 2-4, free or com- 

 bined at the base, stigmas branched or tortuous; ovules very many. Fruit 

 capsular, more rarely succulent, often winged, variously dehiscing or irregularly 

 breaking up. Seeds very many, minute, globose or narrow cylindric, testa reti- 

 culated : albumen very scanty or 0. -DiSTRiB. Species 400 (of which 398 

 belong to the genus Begonia), in all tropical moist countries ; not yet met with 

 in Australia. 



1. BEGONIA, Linn. 

 Character of the Order. 



SECT. I. Casparya. Stamens numerous, shortly monadelphous ; anthers 

 narrowly oblong, connective slightly produced, obtuse. Ovary 4-celled (in B. 

 Candollei 3-celled), placentas 2-nd or 2-partite. Fruit more or less fleshy, not 

 dehiscing on the faces ; carpels not much compressed, nor having their backs 

 produced into a thin wing. (None small : leaves in all very unequal at the 

 base.) 



1. B. Boxburg-hii, A. DC. Prodr. xv. pt. i. 398; stem lengthened with 

 inflorescence clustered near the axils, leaves ovate nearly glabrous sinuate-toothed 

 scarcely serrate, fruit subpyramidal 4-celled very succulent angles obtuse ending 

 in 4 small horns upwards. Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 107. B. mala- 

 barica, Roxb. Fl.lnd. iii. 648, not of Lamk. Diploclinium Roxburghii, Miq. Fl. 

 Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. p. 692. Casparya? oligocarpa and polycarpa, DC. Prodr. xv. 

 pt. i. 276, 277. 



From NEPAL to BURMA ; not uncommon in NORTH and EAST BENGAL with ASSAM, 

 ascending to 4000 ft. 



Hoot fibrous, not tuberoue. Stem usually 1-3 ft., erect, succulent, glabrous or 

 minutely pubescent when young. Leaves 6-9 in., acuminate, glabrous or minutely 

 pubescent on the nerves of both surfaces ; petiole 2-5 in. ; stipules lanceolate, gla- 

 brous, deciduous. Cymes short, axillary, dichotomous, with narrow lanceolate linear 

 bracts, often few-flowered, producing but one or two fruits from each axil. MALE FL.: 

 sepals 2, large, glabrous, nearly white; petals usually 2. smaller than the sepals, 

 white or nearly so ; stamens about 50. FEMALE : ovary cells 4 ; placentas very 



