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THE CULTIVATED SPECIES OF BEGONIA. 179 



B. nitida (Bot. Mag. t. 4046). — Introduced from Jamaica to 

 Kew in 1777. Stems 3 feet to 4 feet high, perennial, fleshy, woody 

 at the base. Leaves large, glossy green, obliquely ovate, wavy, 

 4 inches to 6 inches across. Flowers crowded on long axillary 

 peduncles, pale pink; males 1\ inch across, with two broad and 

 two narrow petals ; females smaller, with five equal petals; ovary 

 3-angled, with two small and one large wing. A good useful 

 summer-flowering plant for the stove or warm greenhouse. 

 Interesting as being the first Begonia introduced into Europe. 



B. octojpetala {Bot. Mag. t. 3559). — Introduced from Lima in 

 Brazil to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens in 1835. Bootstock 

 tuberous. Leaves radical, on stout, fleshy, downy petioles, 12 inches 

 to 18 inches long ; blade cordate, 8 inches long, lobed, toothed, 

 green. Peduncle erect, 1 foot to 2 feet long, bearing corymbs of from 

 six to twenty large ivory-white flowers, not unlike those of Anemone 

 japonica ; males 2 inches to 3 niches across, with from six to ten 

 ovate spreading petals ; females smaller, with six petals ; ovary 

 turbinate, 3-angled ; one wing ^inch long. A winter or autumn 

 flowering plant, which thrives best in a cool house or frame. It is 

 said to grow in shady places in the crevices of rocks. It has been 

 crossed with the popular tuberous-rooted kinds by Lemoine. 



B. Pearcei (Bot. Mag. t. 5545). — Introduced from La Paz by 

 Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons in 1865. Bootstock tuberous. Stem 

 fleshy, annual, short, pubescent. Leaves obliquely ovate, acumi- 

 nate, toothed, 4 inches to 6 inches long, dark green, paler along the 

 veins, dull red beneath. Flowers in axillary, erect peduncles, 

 yellow, 1J inch across ; males with two round andtwo ovate petals ; 

 females smaller, with five equal petals ; ovary green, 3-angled ; 

 wings nearly equal. One of the species from which many of the 

 best yellow and white flowered tuberous-rooted kinds have been 

 bred. 



B. peltata. — Introduced from Brazil in 1815. Stem perennial, 

 thick, succulent, covered with a soft tomentum, as also are the 

 leaves and petioles. Leaves peltate, ovate, acuminate, thick and 

 succulent, whitish, 6 inches to 9 inches long. Peduncles long, erect; 

 cymes branched, bearing numerous small white flowers in winter. 

 Interesting on account of its thick felted peltate silvery leaves. 

 It is worth growing as a stove foliage plant. B. auriformis is 

 apparently the same as or very near this species, which has 

 also borne the names coriacea, peltifolia, and Hasskarlii. 



