45 



ern coastal plain will soon be explored more thoroughly, not so 

 much with a view of discovering new species or new stations for 

 old ones, which has been the incentive for much of the botanical 

 work which has been done in the past, as of determining the dis- 

 tribution and habitat relations of each and every species. When 

 this is done it will perhaps not be a difficult matter to work out 

 the historical development of the flora with some degree of 

 accuracy. 



University, Ala. 



A NEW BEGONIA FROM BOLIVIA 



By George V. Nash 



During his travels in the interior of Bolivia in 1 901-2, Mr. R. 

 S. Williams found an interesting Begojiia, of which he brought 

 back herbarium material in fruit only. Dr. H. H. Rusby com- 

 pared this material on a recent visit with the specimens in the 

 herbarium of the Royal Gardens, at Kew, England, and could find 

 nothing there like it. Seed, secured from the herbarium material 

 already referred to, was sown, and in January of this year plants 

 thence derived came into flower at the New York Botanical 

 Garden. This has enabled me to confirm Dr. Rusby's opinion 

 that the plant is a species hitherto unknown. As group charac- 

 ters in the large genus Begonia are based upon the structure of 

 the flowers, it is a difficult matter without these safely to state 

 whether a given Begonia is new. This plant is unusual in having 

 the perianth in both forms of the flower of a pellucid green, a 

 condition forming an odd and pleasing contrast with the deep 

 orange of the anthers. 



Mr. Williams informs me that he found this Begonia growing 

 among moss on a damp shady bluff", a short distance to the north 

 of the little town of San Buena Ventura. This place is at an ele- 

 vation of about four hundred and twenty meters above the sea ; it 

 is located in about S. Lat. 14° 25' and W. Long. 67° 20', on 

 the Beni River which joins its waters with those of the Mamore 

 River at the southern boundary of Brazil to form the Madeira, 

 one of the tributaries of the Amazon. 



