CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FAMILY. lj 



angles or on the sides beneath the calyx, rarely baccate or fleshy, and not bursting. 

 These characters are, however, exceedingly variable in different species, as 

 might be expected in such an extensive genus ; and the genus has been divided 

 into forty-one genera by a German author, Klotzsch, but the characters are so 

 inconstant in different members of various groups that the classification could not 

 be retained. Alphonse de Candolle divided the' genus into three, namely, 

 Casparya, Begonia, and Mezierea, according as the fruit burst at the angles, at 

 the sides, or had parietal placentas, respectively ; but these characters are also 

 too inconstant for the retention of such a classification. The sections and genera 

 of those authors are, however, used in the Genera Plantarum for the purpose of 

 grouping the various members of the genus in some intelligible and systematic 

 way. 



INTERESTING EXCEPTIONS TO THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

 THERE are some interesting exceptions to the above-mentioned botanical cha- 

 racters. In the section Begoniella, the sepals are united into a bell-shaped calyx, 

 enclosing a definite number of stamens. The sepals are reduced to two in B. 

 dipetala in both the male and female flowers, while several of the smaller- 

 flowered species have the male flowers in this condition. The male blooms in B. 

 octopetala vary with from six to nine sepals, resembling in no small measure 

 the flowers of an Anemone, while the cordate-orbicular and lobed leaves serve to 

 strengthen the illusion. The female flowers, as well as those of B. socotrana and 

 others, have six sepals. The large placentas projecting into the cavity of the 

 ovary are a marked feature of this, as well as some other orders, and they are 

 entire as in B. socotrana, two-lobed or two-parted in others, and occasionally 

 many-lobed. They project from the walls of the ovary, which is accordingly one. 

 celled (as already mentioned), in the section Mezierea. Many species are 

 remarkable for the production of adventitious buds and leaves from the surface of 

 the stem or leaves themselves. As an instance of this erratic condition, B. 

 phyllomaniaca may be mentioned, the stems of which may often be seen densely 

 covered with small leaves. 



Many species, as is well known to gardeners, may be propagated from leaves or 

 cuttings of leaves. The old-fashioned B. Evansiana produces numerous bulbils in 

 the axils of the upper leaves, by which it is regularly propagated in many a 

 cottage window. B. gracilis Martiana, another tuberous-rooted species with 

 showy flowers, also produces bulbils in vast numbers. In B. socotrana and the 

 new race of winter-flowering garden forms partly derived from it, the bulbils are 

 usually of large size and mostly confined to the base of the stem. B. socotrana 

 occasionally flowers directly from these bulbils, on peduncles unaccompanied by 

 leaves. The bulbils themselves consist of broad, overlapping pale green scales, 

 which are the morphological equivalents of leaves. Economically the genus is 

 not of much importance ; but B. tuberosa and B. malabarica are used as pot- 

 herbs in their native country. 



