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Begonia chiasmogyna in Edinburgh J. Bot. 62: 193. 2006
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Diagnosis
- A Begonia celebica Irmsch. flore femineo tepalis quattuor et indumento haud ferrugineo differt.
Description
- Erect softly hairy much branching herb to c.50 cm high. Stem woody at base, sometimes rooting where nodes touch substrate, densely hairy, internodes 5-13 cm. Stipules c.10 x 7 mm with a filiform extension at the tip, hairy, semi-persistent. Petioles 2-6 cm long, densely hairy. Leaves very asymmetric, up to 7-17 cm long from base to tip and 3-6 cm wide, midrib 5-13 cm, ovate-lanceolate, venation pinnate-palmate, covered with colourless hairs, margin scalloped and irregularly dentate with a fringe of short hairs, shallowly cordate at the base, pale green. Inflorescence bisexual, terminal, protogynous, female flowers occasionally borne separately; bracts ovate, c.3 mm long, fimbriate. Male flowers borne in monochasial cymes of c.14 flowers; tepals 2, suborbicular, c.8 x 9 mm, base cordate becoming truncate at maturity, outer surface with a few short colourless hairs, margin slightly fimbriate, white; stamens 45-50, yellow, anthers c.0.75 mm long, dehiscing through short slits near the tip, filaments the same length, slightly fused at the base. Female flowers borne in pairs; pedicel c.3 mm long; tepals 4, equal, sub-rhomboid, denticulate, white, c.15 x 11 mm; styles 3, twice spirally twisted, yellow, deciduous; ovary 10 x 14 mm with 3 equal wings, truncate across the apex, scattered with colourless hairs, pale green or pink, placentation axile, placentae bifid, wings rounded at the base and acute at the tip. Fruit c.12 x 16 mm, drying pale brown, dehiscent, capsule oval. Seeds barrel shaped, c.0.3 mm long, collar cells c.2/3 the length of the seed.