Begonias

References exist for the following species

Begonia arborescens 1929
Begonia manicata 1929
Begonia rex 1885, 1929
Begonia semperflorens 1885
Tuberous Begonias 1929

Tuberous Begonias

Begoniaceae - Begonia Winter Gem
From: The garden. An illustrated weekly journal of horticulture in all its branches by William Robinson (editor).London, 1891, January - June, volume 39, plate 807. Chromolithograph by Guillaume Severeyns after painting by H.G. Moon (sheet 218 x 283 mm).

Begonia rex

Begoniaceae - Begonia rex

From: Flore des serres et des jardins de l’Europe by Charles Lemaire and others. Gent, Louis van Houtte, 1857, volume 12, plate 1255-1258. 2 chromolithographs finished by hand

The founder, publisher and part-editor of this lavish Belgian periodical was Louis van Houtte, the propietor of the largest nursery of its time on the continent. It appeared monthly for almost 40 years and was published by his own printing office in the middle of the gardens, the Horto van Houtteano. All the plants shown were for sale in his nursery and include many exotics. The work is notable for the craftmanship of the Belgian lithographers Severeyns, Stroobant and De Pannemaker, who had mastered the art of colour-printing from stone.

Begonia manicata

Begonia manicata 'Aureomaculata'

Begonia angularis

Illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 1902

I'm pleased to have finally tracked down this one. Identified the old fashioned way from the b+w photos in Alfred Graf's Exotica. (mine is the 8th edition 1976 - over 1800 pages in a single volume, and before the internet your only hope of identifying an unknown exotic plant!) For many years I have grown this as B. ulmifolia since it is grown under this name in some Lisbon collections, but apart from the asymmetrical leaf base (which nearly all begonias have) this leaf owes nothing to the elm. The true ulmifolia has puckered or bullate leaves and looks just like the leaf of an Elm!

This was possibly the "Begonia arborescens" of Walter Oates, Monserrate 1929 (See posting) It grows easily to two or more metres high. Tough and robust it has survived in a number of old Sintra gardens. Notably at Quinta do Relógio and in a villa garden on the Rua Dom João de Castro, just below Quinta Nova. Flowers all year round. Angular-stems (a key identifying characteristic) and large leathery smooth leaves. Local gardeners call it the "Lingua da Vaca" or Cow's Tongue.

Native to steep, shady, moist areas in the central region of the Atlantic Coastal forest of Brazil at an altitude of 600-1500 m. This forest is home to almost 200 Begonia species. Commonly cultivated Begonia species from this forest include B. coccinea, B. convolvulacea, B. cucullata, B. herbacea, B. luxurians, and B. venosa. 90% of Brazil's Atlantic Coastal Forest has now been destroyed, but there are now large areas protected within the National Park System.

See Begonias By Mark C. Tebbitt, Brooklyn Botanic Garden p. 83-4 Timber Press

Originally collected from San Gabriel in the Serra d'Estrella, near Rio. Distributed to gardens in 1845. Grown for many years at Kew in the Temperate House, where it grew to a height of eight feet.

Begonia angularis Raddi

Section Pritzelia - cane-like group of shrubby Begonias

Synonyms: Pritzelia angularis; B. compta Bull; B. crenulata Schott; B. zebrina Hort. Angl.; B. hastata Vell. Fl. Flum.; Pritzelia zebrina Klotzsch.

Begonia arborescens

Begonia arborescens var. confertiflora

As the name suggests this begonia is tree-like and one of the tallest of all free-standing begonias. Begonia arborescens is native to the Atlantic Coastal Forest of Brazil, where it is common in humid shady locations in the rain forest. After seeing this species in the wild, Marc Hachadourian, a horticulturist at New York Botanical garden, has suggested that it may mimic certain species of Cecropia, which are common trees of the rain forests where B. arborescens lives. This hypothesis is intriguing since cecropias have an intricate relationship with ants that live inside their stems and protect them from herbivores. If this Begonia is indeed capable of fooling potential herbivores into thinking it is a Cecropia and therefore protected by ants, it is easy to see why this bluff may have evolved. Three readily distinguished varieties of B. arborescens have been described. The species, B. arborescens var. arborescens, as commonly found in nature, has large very broad leaves and is almost hairless. The plant B. arborescens var. confertiflora inhabits a higher altitude and has dense, long, soft hairs along the main vein of its leaf blade and on its flower stalks. Begonia arborescens var. oxyphylla has relatively narrow leaf blades that measure no more than 6 cm across. This variant, while having the smallest natural distribution, is the one most often seen in cultivation.

Begonia arborescens needs a lot of space and for this reason is often grown in a bed within a greenhouse, rather than in a pot. The Atlanta Botanical garden grows it in this way in their tropical house, and its large size helps produce the illusion that it is growing in a natural tropical rain forest. At that garden the species thrives in a very shady position with a high relative humidity. The species has seldom, if ever, been used in hybridization.


Begonia arborescens Raddi
Section Pritzelia, shrub-like group
Memoriè di Matematica e di Fisica Società Italiana della Scienze (Modena) 18: 408 (1820)

Extract from Begonias By Mark C. Tebbitt, Brooklyn Botanic Garden p. 83-4 Timber Press

Synonymy: Begonia dimidiata Vell. Fl. Flum. X. t. 46; Steineria pulchella Klotsch Begon. 65; Begonia patens Giseb. in hb. Hook; Begonia confertiflora Gardn. in Hook. Journal IV. 134

Though this is the name attributed by Walter oates to the Begonia growing at Monserrate, I suspect that the plant was actually Begonia angularis, at tree-sized Begonia which is still found in some old Sintra gardens.