I 



18 THE TUBEROUS B*EGONIA. 



of the two, and requiring a warmer temperature. It grows about 2 feet 

 high, has leaves from 6 inches to 8 inches in diameter, of a dull green 

 colour above ; and has flowers from 2 inches to 2^ inches in diameter, of a 

 bright rose-red colour. It is figured in the Botanical Magazine, t. 5675, 

 and like B. rosceflora, has only been sparingly used as a parent. \ 



Begonia Frcebelii is another species which should be noticed in this 

 place, and which produces more or less tuberous roots ; but as this plant 

 does not appear to be amenable to hybridisation, it must be recorded against 

 it that the present race of Tuberous-rooted Begonias owes nothing whatever 

 to it. B. Froebelii one of the many discoveries of the late Mr. B. Roezl 

 was introduced in 1872 from Ecuador, by the Messrs. Froebel, nurserymen, 

 of Zurich, and has a remarkably dwarf habit. The leaves and flower 

 stems all rise separately, direct from the tuber ; the blooms are small, 

 but of a very bright Scarlet or light crimson colour, and very showy ; the 

 leaves are usually somewhat triangular in shape, _ with a handsome velvety 

 surface like that of some Gesneras. B. Froebelii, as has been stated, does 

 not ally itself with any of the other species, but seeds freely when 

 fertilised with its own pollen. The resultant seedlings are always more 

 or less true to the parent type, some, however, being considerably superior 

 to others in size and colour of the flower, and in other respects. If some 

 mode of crossing this species with the ordinary varieties could be dis- 

 covered, we should probably obtain an entirely new and distinct race of 

 hybrids. At present it is specially valuable as a winter-flowering plant, 

 coming into bloom after all the ordinary tuberous varieties have gone to rest. 



THE FIRST GARDEN HYBRID. 



THE first hybrid raised in this country, perhaps the first that was ever 

 raised anywhere, and certainly the first put into commerce of which we can 

 find any record, was Begonia Sedeni ($ee illustration, p. 23), sent out by the 

 Messrs. Veitch in 1870. It was raised by their foreman, Mr. John Seden, to 

 whose skill as an hybridist horticulture owes so much, and originated from a 

 cross between B. boliviensis and a species which the Messrs. Veitch then 

 had, but which was never named or sent out. In what year Mr. Seden com- 

 menced crossing the Tuberous Begonia we do not know, nor have we any 

 knowledge of the number of hybrids he raised, from which were selected 

 B. Sedeni, and the seventeen other sorts subsequently sent out by the Messrs. 

 Veitch. Suffice it to say here then, that considerable numbers were raised 

 and grown on to the flowering stage, and then rigorously selected, and all 

 but the favoured few destined to be named and propagated, were burnt, 

 "seedling Begonias" being not sojvaluable then as now. 



