BEGONIA DREGIL— DREGE’S BEGONIA. 
Class XXL MONCECIA. Order Y. POLYANDRIA. 
Natural Order, BEGONIACEJ1. 
Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Perianth petaloid, segments generally unequal. Male Flowers. Seg- 
ments of the Perianth 2-4, rarely 6-9, nearly round, the smaller ones often spathulate. Stamina indefinite; 
filaments more or less united, inserted into the receptacle ; anthers erect, connective clavate, somewhat 
flattened. Pistil wanting. Female Flowers. Segments on the Perianth 4-6. Stamina wanting. Styles 
3, dilated upwards, undulate. Stigmata stretched along the terminal margin of the styles. Germen in- 
ferior, 3-sided, winged, 3-celled. Ovules numerous. 
Whole Plant glabrous. Root tuberous, tuber flattened. Stem (in the specimen described, six inches 
high) erect, succulent, glabrous, pale red, faintly streaked with greenish white oblong spots, many rising 
from the crown of the root, branched. Leaves (If inch long, 2 inches across) petioled, oblique, trans- 
versely elliptico-rhomboid, subpeltate, 5-9-nerved, glabrous on both sides, green, with unequal silvery spots 
above, red below, darker on the nerves and their branches, doubly crenate; petioles spreading horizontally, 
twice as long as the leaves, having a shallow channel on the upper side. Stipules large, obliquely-ovate, colour- 
less, reflected in the sides, marcescent. Peduncles axillary, about as long as the petioles, spreading, having 
at the apex two opposite bracts, similar to the stipules, but rather smaller, more round, and somewhat un- 
equal. Flowers (1 inch across) white, two arising between the bracts, one male, the other female, pedicel- 
late, expanding about the same time; pedicels unequal, that of the male flower the longer, and nearly equal 
to the length of the peduncle. Male Flower dipetalous, the petals subrotund, flat, slightly unequal. Sta- 
mens united by the filaments only at the base; connective short, broad, the two anther cells forming lines 
along its edges, and of rather paler yellow than it. Female Flower 6-petalous, petals undulate blunt, ellip- 
tical, two opposite narrower than the others which are sub-equal, style broad, fan-shaped, undulate, revolute 
and twisted, having along the terminal edge the villous stigmata, which are of darker yellow than the styles; 
germen with two sub-equal bluntly pointed wings, which are larger than the third more rounded one. 
Popular and Geographical Notice. The very extensive genus Begonia was at one time con- 
sidered entirely tropical, and it does abound especially on the eastern side of tropical South America, and 
the south and south eastern parts of India. It has been long known, however, that it extends beyond the 
northern edge of the tropic, in the east of Asia, reaching as high up as Japan. More lately several species 
have been found in Nepal, but this is less remarkable, as the hot vallies of that country furnish almost a 
tropical vegetation. I am not aware that any species has been found in America, to the northward of the 
tropic, though several are found in Mexico. Very few species have been found to the eastward of the 
Andes, and the species now figured is, I believe, the first which has been detected on the continent of 
Africa, and in the southern hemisphere the first any where beyond the iropic. It was discovered by Dreg£, 
but I do not know at what distance from the Cape of Good Hope. There is difficulty in finding analogous 
forms to the begoniaceee in any other natural order, and diversity of opinion hence arises among 
botanists as to their true position. 
Introduction; Where grown; Culture. Seeds of this plant were obtained at the Botanic 
Garden, Edinburgh, from M. Otto, Berlin, in April, 1840, with the M. S. name here adopted, but without 
any account of its native country, but I have since learned from M. Klotzschthat seeds and dried specimens 
were transmitted from the Cape of Good Hope to the Botanic Garden at Berlin, by M. Drege. The seed- 
ling plants flowered abundantly with us in September* while in the hotbed where they were raised, and 
already have formed tubers as large as small oranges. They have received no particular treatment, and it 
does not appear that there will be any difficulty in preserving them in moderate heat. 
Derivation of the Names. Begonia, in honour of Begon a French Patron of Botany. Dregii in 
honour of M. Dreg£, to whom we are indebted for this interesting addition to our collections, and to the 
flora of Africa. 
A delightful writer observes, that “the name of June, and indeed that of May, gave rise to various ety- 
mologies ; but the most probable one derives it from Juno, in honour of whom a festival was celebrated at 
the beginning of the month J 5 He says, “It is now complete summer : — 
’ Summer is yeomen in, 
Loud sing cuckoo; 
Groweth seed, 
And bloweth mead, 
And springeth the weed new. 
, , * At Cambridge. 
