Begonia Haniffii, a small tuberous species 

 of the Islands of Lankawi, 



By I. H. Burkill. 



In 1890 Mr. Curtis obtained at Kasoom in the Siamese Malay 

 States a tuberous Begonia which Mr. Ridley described in this 

 Journal (No. 50, 1911, p. 106) as Begonia Ourtisii. The new 

 species here to be described is its counterpart from the islands 

 of Laukawi. Both Kasoom and Lankawi are limestone regions, 

 and both Begonias grow on the limestone rocks, dying down before 

 November and surviving to February, when they sprout, by under- 

 ground tubers. 



Begonia Haniffii was obtained some live years ago by Mr. 

 Mohamed Haniff, and brought into the Waterfall Gardens, Penang, 

 where it persists. From the underground tuber it attains a height 

 at about eight inches; if a weak plant it may have one stem only; if 

 a strong plant it may have up to six. These stems carry 2-4 leaves 

 of which the largest appears to be one with the cordate half to 

 the right of the midrib. The leaves in outline are as drawn here ; 

 they are of a dark green thickly covered with small silvery spots, 

 each spot a patch of 40-100 air-containing cells often but not always 

 around the base of a short air-containing hair. Such spots in this 

 species often touch the larger veins. The stem is slightly trans- 

 lucent, crimson, with a little entangled dark hair here and there. 

 but chiefly below: it zigzags at the nodes. The colour, translucency 

 and slight hairiness extend to the petioles. The stipules are pale 

 with a little of the crimson colour along their nerves. The flowers 



Jour. Straits Branch R. A. Soc, No. 79, 



