PLATE XIV. 
BEGONIA GEMMIPARA, ay e¢ 7. 
Nat. Ord. Breontacna. 
Caulescens, dioica, glaberrima, radice tuberosa, caule simplici, stipulis brevibus oblongis obtusis, foliis petiolatis ovatis tri- , 
angulari-ovatis oblongisve varie ineequaliter palmatilobis subintegrisve pagina superiore interdum subpilosa basi 
cordato-bilobis, lobis acutis grosse irregulariter serratis nervis primariis palmatis, stipulis ad axillas gemmiferis, 
pedunculis axillaribus brevibus 1—2-floris supra medium bibracteatis, bracteis amplis orbiculatis concavis, perianthii 
segmentis orbiculatis obtusis concavis, filamentis brevibus basi in columnam brevem coadunatis, antheris obovatis 
truncatis, ovario 8-loculari 3-alato alis superne in cornua erecta obtusa dilatatis, placentis alte bifidis, stylis 
obcuneatis, stigmatibus truncatis bilobisve. 
Has. In sylvis densis Himalaya: orientalis temperate ; Sikkim, alt. 7-10,000 ped. FV. tempore pluvioso. 
I ea oO ON 
A very singular species, without much beauty to recommend it, but remarkable for the development 
of bodies in the axils of the leaves of both the male and female individuals, which are quite unlike any 
other organs of the plant, and whose exact nature I am unable to discover. I first found the species near 
Dorjiling, in the autumn of 1848, but it appeared to be rare, and some observations which I had begun upon 
the functions of the axillary bodies were left unfinished when I had to leave that station for the interior. T 
again found the same plant when travelling in the interior of Sikkim, in August, 1849, growing at the foot 
of Fir-trees (Abies Simithiana and Brunoniana), in the Lachoong valley, at 8-9000 feet elevation, but the 
specimens were much smaller than the Dorjiling ones, and the leaves covered with silver spots, like those of 
the common B. argyrostigma. In almost every individual a clavate, truncate, or wedge-shaped body grew 
close to the petiole of one or more of the leaves, or rather from the axil of one of the stipules ; it consisted of 
a quadrate, club-shaped, fleshy mass, surrounded with imbricating orbicular bracts, and was divided at the top 
into four, eight, or twelve cup-shaped compartments, with much regularity. In these were seated a variable 
number (but generally four, or a multiple of four) of oblong, green, fleshy, terete bodies, or gemmules, with 
narrowed tapering pedicels, sunk into a common receptacle; each had two bracteole at its base, and a few 
minute termmal scales at the very apex. I examined very many of them microscopically, but found no 
contents beyond cellular tissue, full of chlorophyll grains; amongst Mr. Cathcart’s drawings, however, there 
is a transverse section of one (fig. 9 of the accompanying Plate) with five enclosed cavities or bodies. 
In the very many specimens that I examined, I found no material deviation from the above type of 
structure, and none at all that suggested any explanation of their nature or origin. Their position, being 
axillary to the stipule and not to the petiole, is curious, as is their being equally prevalent in the male 
and female individuals, and both in the large succulent specimens from the damp climate of Dorjiling, and 
in those from the much drier and more alpine woods of Lachoong, in the interior of the province. The ten- 
dency to a quaternary arrangement of the parts is also curious, and suggests their being more analogous to 
the male flower (which is always tetramerous) than to the female. The two bracteole at the base of each 
