Species
B. haageana
See B. scharffii
Photos
5 photos
Identity
- Genus
- Begonia
- Name
- B. haageana
- Author
- Watson, Gard. Chron. III
- Publication Date
- 1889
- Country
- Brazil
- Region
- America
- Section
- Pritzelia
- Chr 2n
- 48
- Plant Type
- Shrub-like
- Synonyms and Comments
- B. scharffii J. D. Hooker. 1888;
- Reference
- Gard. Chron. III 6:388. 1889; JGSL9/08;
- Article References
- The Garden, v. 41 1892;
- Photo References
- JBS, Begonias :19. 1980; Murotani, Begonia in Colour :80. 1983; The Begonian, Mar 1959; The Begonian, Jan 1940; Exotica - Pictorial Encyclopedia of Indoor plants; Begonias, Misono 1974: 57 (81);
Plant
- Description
- Garden and forest; New York: The Garden and forest publishing co. 1888-97. v. 2 1889: pg. 546 http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/107316 Begonia haageana - The merits of this new Begonia were mentioned incidentally by me in a letter last year. A year's further trial has proved the plant to be of first-rate merit as a garden Begonia. Among the many species of evergreen Begonias grown at Kew, this one stands out prominently on account of its bold habit, handsome foliage, floriferousness, and the size and beauty of its flowers. These are colored a soft rosy white, with conspicuous crimson hairs on the outside of the sepals; the male flowers are one and one-half inches across, and they are in very large branching racemes, strong stems producing racemes nine inches across. The female flowers are smaller and in looser racemes. The plants at Kew are now in full flower. In the hands of a clever hybridizer, such as Monsieur Lemoine, this species might be made much of. It was introduced from Brazil by Messrs. Haage & Schmidt, of Erfurt, and it flowered for the first time, at Kew, in 1887. A figure of it is given in the Botanical Magazine, t. 7028, under the name of B. Scharffii. This is, however, a different species, which was introduced at the same time as B. haageana and belongs to the same section. The Garden, v. 41 1892 B haageana: This is a beautiful perennial perpetually flowering stove Begonia, which was introduced from Brazil by Messrs. Haage and Schmidt, of Erfurt, who presented a plant of it to Kew in 1887, where it flowered for the first time in September of the same year. Along with it; came two other begonias closely allied to B. haageana, and as these three had been distributed to other gardens as well as Kew by the introducers, with the request that one of them should be named in honor of Dr. Scharff who gathered the seeds of the Begonias in the island of Desterro, Brazil, the result was that two distinct plants were called D. Scharffiana by Sir Joseph Hooker and Dr. Regel respectively. The mistake was afterwards rectified, the plant figured in the Botanical Magazine, t. 7028, being now called B. Haageana, the species represented in the accompanying plate. It is certainly one of the most magnificent of the many Begonias known, and it is as easily cultivated as a Coleus. There are specimens of it now at Kew 4 feet high and nearly 1 yard through, clothed with leaves from top to bottom, and in some cases in flower. The largest heads of blooms, however, are produced in autumn, when they sometimes measure nearly 1 foot in diameter. The male and female flowers are usually borne on separate cymes, and the females are remarkable in that they do not f all off, but remain on the plant until they become green, even although not fertilized. The leaves and inflorescence represented in the plate are necessarily small, leaves over 1 foot in length being usual on large plants. The whole plant is covered with reddish hairs; the stems and undersides of the leaves are blood-red. The male flowers are each 2½ inches in diameter, the female ones slightly smaller, and the ovary is covered with conspicuous red hairs, as also are the sepals of the male flowers on the outside. Scharffiana was described by Dr. Regel in "Garten flora," 1888, p. 127. It is a coarser growing plant than B. Haageana, the large fleshy leaves being deep olive-green above, claret-crimson beneath, and covered with hairs. The stipules are very large, and the flowers, which are clustered on long drooping panicles, are less numerous, not so large, and they are subtended with very large cucullate bracts, sometimes also with small perfect leaves, a character not noticed in any other Begonia. There is a dwarf small-leaved variety of this known as B. Scharffiana var. minor. The relationship between the above and the older B. metallica and B. echinosepala is apparent to anyone acquainted with these plants. It is not, therefore, surprising that hybrids have been raised between them. I know of two, viz., B. Duchartrei, a hybrid between B. echinosepala and B. scharffiana, and B. credneri, also called B. pictavensis, which was raised from B. haageana and B. metallica. These were raised by M. Bruant, of Poitiers, who has since distributed them. All these plants are well worth growing for the stove or intermediate house. They are easily propagated from cuttings, and specimens a yard through may be grown in about a year. - W. W.
Lineage
Parents
No parentage recorded.
B. scharffii J. D. Hooker. 1888;
Descendants
No recorded descendants.
Culture
No populated fields in this section.