LETTER XXXL 



THE BEGONIA TRIBE THE FIG-MARIGOLD TRIBE 



HYGRO-METRICAL PHENOMENA CONNECTED WITH 

 THE DISPERSION OF SEEDS. 



Plate XXXI. 



There are few collections in which some one or 

 other of the plants called Begonias are not found. 

 They are not, however, cultivated so much for the sake 

 of their flowers, as of their leaves, the deep rich colours 

 of which, especially their crimson, is unrivalled in the 

 vegetable world. These plants have in all cases one 

 half of the leaf much smaller than the other, so that at 

 their base they often have something the appearance of 

 a human ear. They have a pair of large stipules at the 

 foot of each petiole, and all the parts of vegetation 

 are particularly tender and brittle. They grow natu- 

 rally in damp tropical woods, often on rocks, or in the 

 rifts of trees, and are among the most certain signs 

 of a hot damp climate. 



It is a matter of no little difficulty to know where to 

 class them, or with what plants they are most naturally 

 related ; indeed, after all the consideration that 

 Botanists have given them, the subject is still unsettled. 

 Why this is so, you will understand, as soon as I ha(ve 

 explained to you the structure of the fructification of 

 Begonia. 



Let the subject of examination be the commonest 



