BEGONIA CONFERENCE, 



163 



for hybridising with promising results. Then we have B. Suther- 

 landii, a tuberous kind with coppery-red flowers, introduced from 

 Natal in 1866. B. Froebelii, a handsome species obtained shortly 

 afterwards from South America, but which appears to be a very- 

 weak agent in hybridisation. Nor must we omit to mention 

 B. corallina, one of the handsomest of all Begonias both as 

 regards flowers and foliage. Its origin is unfortunately obscure, 

 but probably it came to us from Brazil — a country most prolific 

 in beautiful and distinct forms, among which are B. Martiana 

 and the recently introduced B. Scharffii, B. Haageana, and 

 B. Lubbersii, all well worth the attention of cultivators. There 

 is still one more natural proliferous species with distinct foliage 

 and curious inflorescence whose horticultural merit has not yet 

 been proved ; this is B. Burhei. 



Of late years a highly decorative race of Begonias both in 

 foliage and flowers has originated on the Continent, chiefly in 

 France. One of the first was raised by Messrs. Thibaut & 

 Keteleer, and called by them Gloire de Sceaux, and subsequent 

 additions were made by other hybridists, one of the best bearing 

 the name of Arthur Mallet. In this race the characters of the 

 Indian species B. subpeltata (allied to B. Beddomei) are very 

 prominent, and as B. subpeltata was much used, the group may 

 without impropriety be called the subpeltata group. 



There yet remains to be noticed one of the most remarkable 

 of recent introductions, because its influence as a progenitor of 

 new races is far-reaching and perhaps only just beginning to be 

 felt ; this is B. socotrana, brought by Dr. Bailey Balfour in 1880 

 from the dry and hot island of Socotra, off the south coast of 

 Arabia — "one of the last places in the world," as Sir Joseph 

 Hooker remarks, " in which a Begonia could have been expected 

 to occur." Not only is its geographical position remarkable, and 

 even anomalous, but its systematic place in the genus is not 

 easily determined. As a garden plant it has proved to be one 

 of the most useful of Begonias. Itself a handsome species, 

 flowering in mid-winter, by crossing it with late-flowering 

 varieties of the Andean tuberous group, the forerunners of a 

 most valuable race of winter-flowering kinds have been obtained, 

 and such varieties as John Heal, Winter Gem, and Adonis are 

 already highly appreciated. Nor is it with the geographically 

 remote tuberous Begonias only that B. socotrana has proved a 



