34 
BOTANICAL INDEX. 
Fig. 100. 
BEGOJVIA DISCOLOR-REX. 
A NEW RACE OF BEGONIAS. 
BY M. BRTJANT, POITIERS, (VIENNE,) FRANCE. 
We apply the above denomination to the new Begonia, which brings to mind the 
two parents from which they were raised — the Begonia discolor (the mother) being 
fertilized with Begonia Bex, or its varieties, as father — and an extremely remarkable 
generation has issued from them. In fact, the children have the vegetation, the 
blossom, the branching and elegant form of B. discolor, with the beautiful mixed color 
foliage of the Bex varieties of the hot-house. Besides, they have all the rusticity of 
the mother, ( B . discolor,) which is to say, that the bulbs did stand, this winter, 10° 
centigrade of cold without suffering ; and the father lias conveyed to them the faculty 
of preserving their foliage during winter when they are placed in the hot-house. 
They are indeed privileged children, which have inherited from their parents essen- 
tial qualities without any defect. Besides, their rusticity in the common ground is 
demonstrated. Those which have been left outside for experiment, withstood, 
without suffering, all the temperature and the intense frost of this winter. 
Their culture is of the easiest. They can be kept in the common ground, or stored 
after the falling of the leaves, like the bulbous Begonia ; or they may be placed in the 
hot-house before the falling of the leaves and he kept in continuous vegetation. Their 
solid constitution enables them to submit to any kind of culture. 
I send you a rough sketch, representing the general form of the plants. In the 
variety which has been used in making this drawing, the upper face of the leaf is a 
silver white, rose washed, with green designs accompanying the edgings; the under 
face is of a light red ; the petioles and the stems of a dark red ; a floral stem appears 
at the top. 
I have offered to the trade eight new hybrids of Begonia; others will be delivered 
at some future time, under the title of Begonia Discolor-Bex. These plants have made 
a sensation in the horticultural world ; they are bound to become a great success for 
trimming decorations for the garden, as we can keep in common ground Begonias 
with mixed color foliage, with the pretty blossom of the Begonia Discolor, and the 
rusticity of this latter. 
