Species

B. octopetala var. octopetala

Photos

5 photos

Identity

Genus: Begonia
Name: B. octopetala var. octopetala
Form Variety: var. octopetala
Author: l'Héritier, Stirp. Nov.
Publication Date: 1788
Place: Lima
Habitat: Thickets and rock-crevices. Lima: Near Lima, Dombey; Pavon; MacLean; Mathews. San Buenaventura, 2,700-2,900 meters, Pennell 14531. Valley of Almancaes, 305 meters, Mexia 04020. Dist. Pachacamac, Atacongo, 360 meters, Mexia 04051. Loma de Atacongo, 600-700 meters, West 3617. Amancay, 5 km. southeast of Lima, 300 meters, Stork & Horton 9269. Prov. Huarochiri, quebrada southwest of Matucana, 2,900 meters, Goodspeed 11329. Indefinite: Soukup 1302. Endemic; Canar: plants from bulbous base, peduncles and petioles crimson, outer perianth segments crimson, inner pink to white; near Suscal, north rim of the valley of the Rio de Cafiar, M. Giler, E-2843. Between Suscal and Chontamarca, north rim of the valley of the Rio de Cafiar, M. Giler, E-2891. (inflorescences only, mixed with leaves and stems of another species resembling B. acerifolia)
Country: Ecuador, Peru
Region: America
Section: Eupetalum
Chr 2n: 28, 56?
Plant Type: Tuberous
Synonyms and Comments: grandiflora Knowles & Wescott, Fl. Cab. 1:51, pl. 25. 1837. —Steudel, Nom. Bot. ed. 2 , 1:194. 1840; B.aequatorialis
Reference: Stirp. Nov. 4:101. 1788—W.J. Hooker, Bot. Mag. 64:pl. 3559. 1837.; JGSL9/08
Article References: Tebbitt, Begonias 5:234. 2005; Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. New York: The Garden,1900- v.8 1952-1954: Page: 36-40 http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/150964 PLANTS COLLECTED IN ECUADOR BY W. H. CAMP. – BEGONIACEAE - LYMAN B. SMITH AND BERNICE G. SCHUBERT.
Photo References: Tebbitt, Begonias pl.212. 2005.; Beg 91 p 21 Jan/Feb 2024;

Plant

Description: Flora of Peru. by J. Francis Macbride. Chicago, Ill. Field Museum of Natural History, [1941] v.13: pt.4: no.1 (1941): Page 181- 202 http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/19800 Perennial stemless herb with tuberous base. Leaves very broadly cordate-ovate or suborbicular, shallowly palmatifid with 7- 9 obtuse lobes, 6- 20 cm. long, serrate, sparsely puberulent, petioles 10-45 cm. long, puberulent, stipules very broadly ovate, obtuse, entire, drying dark brown, glabrous. Peduncles erect, 3-4 cm. long, puberulent, 3- 10-flowered. Bracts like the stipules, 7- 11 mm. long. Flowers white. Pedicels 15-70 mm. long, puberulent. Staminate tepals 8, elliptic or obovate, obtuse, 2-3 cm. long. Stamens numerous, free, filaments elongate, anthers short, broadly obovoid. Pistillate tepals 6. Styles 3, much-branched with the stigmatic tissue in separate spirals at the end of each division, placentae bilamellate. Capsule 10- 16 mm. long, its largest wing suboblong, erose-truncate, 25 mm. wide, several times larger than the other two; Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. New York: The Garden, 1900- v. 8 1952-1954: Page: 36-40 http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/150964 Cafiar: plants from bulbous base, peduncles and petioles crimson, outer perianth segments crimson, inner pink to white; near Suscal, north rim of the valley of the Rio de Cafiar, M. Giler, E-2843. Between Suscal and Chontamarca, north rim of the valley of the Rio de Cafiar, M. Giler, E-2891. (inflorescences only, mixed with leaves and stems of another species resembling B. acerifolia); Curtis's botanical magazine. London; New York [etc.]: Academic Press [etc.] v. 64=ser. 2: v. 11 (1837) [no. 3542-3625]: Plate 3559, 3564, 3591 http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/14220 ; Planta acaulis, foliis longe petiolatis cordatis lobatis serratis, pedunculo longissimo, floribus masculis subocto faemineis subsexpetalis, capsulae ala oblonga elongata porrecta. Masc. Calyx o. Corolla polypetala, petalis plerumque 4, inaequalibus. Fem. Calyx o. Corolla petalis 4-9, plerumque inaequalibus. Styli 3, bifidi. Capsula triquetra, alata, trilocularis, polysperma. Tubers of this truly fine species of BEGONIA were sent in 1835 from Lima, by John Mc Lean, Esq., to the Glasgow Botanic Garden, where the large flowers, like those of an Anemone, were produced in the stove during the months of October and November in the following year. Dried specimens were also communicated by Mr. Mathews from the same country: but they do not appear in any of the sets which were distributed by that zealous Botanist. It was originally discovered by Dombey, and from his dried specimens it would appear L'Heritier's description was made. Living plants also were at that time in the Jardin des Plantes, but they did not produce flowers. We have found that those individuals bloomed best, which were in the warmest situation on the stove. Description. Root tuberous. Stem none. Leaves upon long, succulent, downy petioles, a foot and a half or more in length, cordate, from six inches to a pan long, deeply lobed and serrated at the margin, slightly downy, most so upon the prominent veins beneath, of a bright green color. Scape about as long as the petioles, rounded, downy, bearing the large, greenish-white flowers in corymbs; in the dried specimens, each peduncle has two or three such corymbs, and in each corymb of from four to six flowers, the upper flowers are male, the lower female: pedicels with caducous bracteas. Male flowers two inches in diameter, of eight or nine obovate, spreading, unequal petals, of which the outer ones are greener than the inner. Stamens exceedingly numerous, of which several in the center are abortive, club-headed ones. Female flowers smaller than the male. Petals fewer, generally six. Germen downy, turbinate, triquetrous, threelobed, two of the angles with small, indistinct wing, the third with a very large, oblong, projecting one, slightly toothed and reddish at the extremity. Styles several, branched. Stigmas lobed, penicillate.
Plant Height: Low