338 A FLORA OP MANfLA 



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95. BEGONACEAE •- (Bbgonia or Llff5AT FAMILY) 



Succulent, creeping, cliiribing, or erect herbs or undershrubs, the stem 

 often reduced to a root-stock. Leaves alternate, entire, toothed, or lobed, 

 usually very unequal-sided. Inflorescence axillary, cymose, usually dichoto- 

 mous, rarely fascicled. Flowers white or pink, monoecious, small or large. 

 Male flowers: Perianth of 2 out^r, opposite segments, "anS 2 inner smaller 

 ones or These wanting; stamens usually many, the fllaments free or more 

 or less united; anthers narrowly obovate. Pemale_flowers : Perianth of 

 2 to 5 segments. Ovary inferior, 2- to 4-celled; styles 2 to 1, free or united 

 below, the stigmas branched or twisted; ovules very numerous. Fruit a 

 usually winged, angular, thin-walled, capsule, variously dehiscent or irreg- 

 ularly breaking up. Seeds very small, numerous. 



Genera about 5, species about 500 in most moist tropical countries, 1 

 genus in the Philippines. 



1. BEGONIA Linnaeus 



Characters of the Family. (In honor of M. Begon, a French promoter 

 of science.) 



Species nearly 500, in most tropical countries, about 60 in the Philippines. 



1. B. nigrltarum Steud. {B. rhombicarpa A. DC). Lingat, Pingol-bato 

 (Tag.). 



Root-stock creeping, with numerous brown stipules and scattered brown 

 hairs. Leaves obliquely ovate, acute or acuminate, irregularly angularly 

 or undulately lobed or coarsely toothed, long-petioled, base cordate, fleshy 

 when fresh and with a distinct acid taste, thin when dry, often purplish 

 beneath, green or soqiewhat mottled above, slightly hairy, at least on the 

 margins, 2.5 to 10 long. Scapes erect, equaling or longer than the leaves, 

 dichotomous, few-flowered. Flowers pink or nearly_white, 12 to 14 mm 

 in diameter, male and female flowers with 4 perianth-segments. Capsule 

 subequally broadly rhombic-ovoid, including the wings, triangular, 5 to 8 

 mm long, 3-winged, the wings subacute. (FI. Filip. pi. ilS.) 



Occasionally cultivated, Singalon, fl. all the year; widely distributed 

 in the Philippine^ on damp cliffs, in ravines, etc. Endemic. 



In addition to the above a number of extra J'hilippme garden forms 

 and hybrids are cultivated in Manila, which have not been considered here. 



96. CACTACEAE (CACTUS FAMILY) 



Fleshy, erect or climbing plants, with much-thickened, usually green 

 stems, usually leafless, supplied with few to many sharp spines Which arise 

 from small areolae. Stems various, in our genera cylindric, flattened, or 

 triangular, jointed or continuous. Flowers usually large and showy, perfect, 

 solitary. Calyx of few to many imbricate sepals. Petals numerous, in 

 2 to many series. Stamens numerous, the filaments slender, sometimes 

 cohering with the base of the petals. Ovary inferior, 1-celled; ovules 

 numerous, parietal; styles simple. Fruit a fleshy, often spiny berry. . Seeds 

 numerous. 



Genera 20 or more, species over 1200, chiefly in the dryer parts of warm 

 and tropical America, a few introduced in the Philippines. 



' For the Philippine representatives of this family, see Merrill, E. D., 

 "The Philippine Species of Begonia." Philip. Journ. Sci. 6 (1911) Bot. 

 369-406. 



