BEGONIA COCCINEA. 
(Scarlet-flowered Begonia ) 
Class. 
MONiECIA. 
Order. 
POLYANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
BEGONIACEiE. 
Generic Character.— Calyx wanting. Corolla poly- 
petalous, petals commonly four, unequal. Female 
flowers. Calyx wanting. Corolla with from four to nine 
petals, generally unequal. Styles three, bifid. Capsule 
triquetrous, winged, three-celled, many-seeded. 
Specific Character. — Plant an evergreen shrub. 
Leaves oblique, oblong-ovate, acuminate,flesby, serrated, 
with a red margin. Stipules ample, obovate, concave, 
coloured, deciduous. Panicles nodding. Floioers deep 
red. Male ones with four roundish petals, of which 
two are the smaller. Females with from five to six equal 
ovate petals. Capsule pyriform, with three equal wings. 
The beautiful genus Begonia is remarkable for the curious and interesting form 
of its leaves, which are often pleasingly marked, or richly coloured on the under 
side; for the extremely graceful disposition of its flowers, these being usually 
arranged in a loose spreading panicle ; and for the delicate tints of its blossoms, 
which are generally whitish, more or less tinged with blush, and having a fine 
cluster of yellow stamens in the middle. Added to these circumstances, there is 
seldom a month in which the inflorescence of some of the prettier kinds is not 
developed ; and they will consequently be seen to be of great service to the 
grower of stove-plants. 
The species now added to our collections, and which is here very well depicted, 
was imported, with many other handsome things, some of which we have already 
figured, by Messrs. Veitch and Son, nurserymen, of Exeter, from the Organ Moun- 
tains of Brazil, having been brought from thence by these gentlemen's collector, 
Mr. William Lobb. It bloomed towards the close of last season, for the first time, 
and has again flowered early in the present year, when the specimen from which our 
drawing has been made was obligingly communicated. Plants still continue in 
flower, and will probably blossom throughout the greater part of the year. 
It is an exceedingly attractive species, growing about eighteen inches in height, 
branching liberally, and producing a great quantity of its elegantly nodding panicles 
of flowers. These, and the large prominent capsules, being of a bright deep red 
colour, while the space between the projecting angles of the latter is shaded off 
almost to white, the whole plant is more showy than any other species known to 
VOL. X. NO. CXII. L 
