17 
BEGONIA HUMILIS. 
Small flowered Begonia. 
MONOECIA POLYANDRIA — Nat. Ord. BEGONIACEJE, Bonpl. De Cand. 
Gen. Char. — Mas. Col. 0. Cor. polypetala. Peiala plerumque 4, inaequa-* 
lia. — F(EM. Cal. 0. Cor. petalis 4-9, plerumque inaequalibus. Styli 3, 
bifidi. Caps, triquetra, alata, 3-locularis, polysperma. 
Begonia humilis ; caulescens erecta, foliis hispidis semicordatis dupli- 
cato-serratis, capsulae alls rotundatis parum inaequalibus. — Dr. 
B. humilis, Ait. Hort. Kerv. ed. 1 . v. iii. p. 353. — Dryandr. in Linn. Trans. 
V. i. p. 166. 1. 15.— Haw. Syn. PI. Succ. p. 318. 
B. lucida. Haw. Sax. et Rev. Pi. Succ. p. 197. 
Plant about one foot and a half high, perennial. Stems much branched, 
jointed, swelling at the joints ; branches erecto-patent, all of them semi- 
pellucid, succulent, brittle, greenish below, reddish above, marked with 
longitudinal deeper-coloured lines. Leaves 2-3 inches long, semi-cor- 
date, acuminate, bright, green, shining, hispid above, glabrous beneath, 
but covered with minute furfuraceous scales, visible with the microscope ; 
their margins doubly serrated and ciliated. Petioles short, glabrous. Sti- 
pules rather large, ovate, pellucid, greenish, very delicate, and membra- 
naceous, ciliated at the margin, soon falling away. 
Peduncles axillary and terminal, 2-3 inches long, reddish, branched at the 
extremity in a dichotomous manner, with ciliated bracteas at their base ; 
Pedicels shortish, some bearing malej some female flowers ; the former, 
generally, upon the longest stalks. 
Male Jlon)er. — Petals 4, unequal, 2 larger, and 2 smaller, orbicular, spread- 
ing, white : the latter, as Dryander observes, are often wanting; in my 
specimen they were wholly absent. Stamens 10-15, yellow, with very 
short filaments, which are all united at their bases. Anther oblongo-ovate. 
Cells lateral, opposite, opening longitudinally. Female jlotver composed 
of 5 petals, or rather of 1 very deeply quinquepartite petal ; the segments 
spreading, linear, oblong, persistent. Germen greenish, large, with un- 
equal longitudinal wings, veined, with two minute ciliated ^bracteas at 
the base. Styles 3, very short. Stigma bipartite, the segments a little 
divaricated, linear, oblong, glandular, capitate at the extremity. 
Capsule of the same shape as the germen, membranaceous, brown ; the wings 
remain attached only by their upper and lower extremities : the capsule 
itself, in the centre of these wings, opening by three longitudinal fissures, 
exactly at that part where the wings were longitudinally attached, and 
exhibiting the trialate central receptacle. My capsules had discharged 
all their seeds. 
A native of the West Indies, having been discovered there 
by Mr Alexandeu Anderson, and first introduced into our 
gardens in 1788, by Messrs Lee and Kennedy. It is culti- 
vated in the Botanic Garden of Glasgow, and in that of Liver- 
pool, whence Mr Shepherd sent the specimen represented. 
The perfect accordance of the present plant, in almost every 
particular, with the B. humilis of Dryander, leaves not a 
doubt on my mind of its being the same species. If, however. 
VOL. I. 
