B. ciliobracteata

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Begonia ciliobracteata Johanna Zinn 2009 About 18 months ago, I received a small division of a plant labeled B. raynaliorum. Since the parent plant had been in a terrarium, I placed it in cut sphagnum moss over charcoal and perlite in a terrarium. The terrarium was placed under full spectrum plant lights in the basement. When I researched B. raynaliorum, I found that it was a synonym of B. ciliobracteata. In my reading, I found that B. ciliobracteata is a variable species; my description below applies to the plant that I am growing. Begonia ciliobracteata Warburg is a terrestrial rhizomatous begonia from West Africa first described by Warburg in 1895. My nineteen month old plant is eight inches tall and has a three and one-half inch long and one-half inch wide rhizome that is growing upward at a forty degree angle. The rhizome is light green with a few reddened sections on the older portion of the rhizome. Sparse, soft, pink hairs are present on portions of the rhizome. A few months after obtaining my plant, I placed three leaves into the moss around the original plant. All have rooted, and all have distinctly upright rhizomes. Elliptical, leathery leaves with unevenly cordate bases emerge from cranberry red triangular stipules that are edged in similar colored cilia. The leaves are medium green on the top and cranberry red on the back. A few of the oldest leaves are five inches long and three inches wide. Green to red palmate veins are depressed on the front of the leaf; veins on the back of the leaf are red and raised with sparse white to pink hairs on them. The leaves are very asymmetrical; one side of the leaf is barely curved, the other is curved. The leaf margins are crenate [scalloped] and, on some of the leaves, the margins are puckered which gives the edge a ruffled look. The one to three and one half inch long petioles are light green and covered with a moderate amount of red hair. On my plant, blooms emerge from unusual succulent peduncles [see photo on back cover]* that slowly elongate to one-half to one inch in length. The bracts are pale green to light pink and ciliate; some of the bracts form a curled shape. The peduncles send out pedicels with two males and one female on each. The blooms are located at the base of the leaves, but can easily be seen on my plant since the leaves grow upright. The leaves appear to have a tendency to grow vertically, and may also be growing toward the lights on the plant stand. Male blooms open first. Male blooms have two tepals; the backs of the tepals are white with a pink to red center and base with sparse white to pink hairs. The inside of the tepals are white with the upper tepal marked with pink to red lines. On some blooms, the inner lower tepal has red markings as well. Tepal edges are sparsely lined with short white hairs. Female blooms also have two tepals. The bloom color and hairs are the same as the male blooms. The ovary is medium pink and has three triangular wings with pink hairs at the tip of each wing. Although slow growing, B. ciliobracteata has become steadily larger and is now growing in a fourteen inch terrarium. It is growing in chopped, long fibered sphagnum moss placed over one third of an inch of charcoal which is placed on one third of an inch of perlite. I change the moss in my terrariums once a year. Every two to three months, a day after I water my terrarium plants, I feed them with a liquid fertilizer diluted to one quarter to one half the recommended strength. At the moment I am using Schultz 10-15-10 Plant Food Plus, but other similar fertilizers should work well. Full spectrum lights left on for 12 hours a day seem to be enough to initiate and sustain bloom. My plant has been blooming for more than five months, and has had more than sixty blooms and/or buds at times. B. ciliobracteata is a rhizomatous species, and may be propagated by dividing a plant, by rhizome cuttings, leaf cuttings, or from seed. I have been trying for months to set seed but have not been successful. Leaf cuttings and wedges are currently rooting well in lightly moistened one-half perlite and one-half vermiculite. The cuttings are in a closed clear container that has been placed under fluorescent lights. B. ciliobracteata has a thick, firm leaf which makes me think that it might survive outside a terrarium if potted in a well drained potting medium and placed in a humid greenhouse. I have several cuttings started that I hope to bring to next year’s conventions, and I will try one of those young plants in the walk-in-terrarium [ humidity 60% to 70% ]to see how it fares. Look for this lovely and interesting plant at the SWRGT or in San Francisco; I think you will enjoy growing it. *Notice the unusual peduncles on my plant. [ See the photo on the back cover ] In the photo, the peduncles are the upright succulent structures with blooms on top of them.   The blooms, which open under the leaves, were so numerous for a few months, I couldn’t see the peduncles, and didn’t realize how unusual they appear.   I haven’t seen peduncles like this before.  Please let me know if you can tell me anything about them. I can be contacted at jazinn@cox.net, or at 4407 Jensen Place, Fairfax, VA 22032-1718 The unusual peduncles are the succulent, upright structures with the blooms on top.  The blooms, which open under the leaves, were so numerous for a few months; I couldn’t see the peduncles and didn’t realize how unusual they appear.  Aren’t the ciliated stipules and bracts lovely?  Some of them even look as if they have been to the hairdresser to be curled!