170 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



The Best Fifty Species op Begonia. 



B. albo-coccinea{Bot. Mag. t. 4172).* — Introduced from Brazil 

 to Kew in 1845. Bootstock a short creeping rhizome, from 

 which spring numerous peltate, ovate, leathery green leaves 

 6 inches long, on petioles of the same length. Peduncles 

 a foot or more long, coral-red, branched into a lax panicle. Male 

 flowers of four petals 1 inch across ; female flowers also of four 

 petals. Capsule green, \ inch long, with three short winged 

 angles. Intermediate ; winter-flowering. 



B. albo-picta (Bull's Catalogue, 1885). — Introduced from 

 Brazil in 1885 by Mr. W. Bull. A shrubby evergreen plant of 

 compact growth, freely branched, with elliptic, lanceolate, short- 

 stalked leaves, 2 inches long, glossy green spotted with silvery 

 white. I have not seen the flowers. Although the description 

 suggests B. maculata, yet the plant is quite distinct from that 

 species. It is an elegant little stove foliage plant. 



B. Baumannii (Gartenflora, 1. 1 848) . — Introduced from Bolivia 

 by Herr Baumann in 1886 ; distributed by M. Lemoine in 1890. 

 Tubers large as ostrich eggs. Leaves large, orbicular, with short., 

 thick petioles. Peduncles 18 inches high, bearing panicles of four 

 to six flowers, which are rose-red, 4-petalled, from 3 inches to 

 4 inches across, and fragrant as Boses. The plant is said to be of 

 easy culture, and to be in flower nine months in the year. It is 

 described as plentiful in the moist valleys of the Cordilleras, 

 where it is eaten by cattle. 



B. boliviensis, DC. (Bot. Mag. t. 5657). — Introduced from 

 Bolivia in 1867 by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. Bootstock tuber- 

 ous. Stems annual, 2 feet to 3 feet high, green. Leaves short- 

 stalked, lanceolate, unequal at the base, 5 inches long, biserrate, 

 green margined with red. Flowers drooping, bright scarlet, 

 usually in pairs, one male, one female, on a short axillary 

 peduncle ; males 2 inches long, with lanceolate petals, stamens 

 united in a long conical column ; female shorter ; ovary tri- 

 angular, with two short and one long pointed wing. B. Worth- 

 iana is a seedling variety of this. 



B. cinnabarina (Bot. Mag. t. 4483). — Introduced from 

 Bolivia by Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son in 1849. Root- 



* I have quoted a good figure of nearly e very species, preferably one 

 in the Botanical Magazine. 



