- Family: Begoniaceae C.Agardh
- Genus: Begonia L.
Begonia johnstonii Oliv. ex Hook.f.
- Genus: Begonia L.
This species is accepted, and its native range is Kenya to Tanzania.
[FTEA]
Begoniaceae, Vanessa Plana, Martin J.S. Sands & Henk J. Beentje. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2006
- Type
- Type: see note.
- Habit
- Herb, possibly perennial, erect, procumbent or straggling, 20–60 cm high or to 90 cm long; stem swollen at base, succulent higher up, green with red streaks, glabrous.
- Stipules
- Stipules persistent, reddish, ovate to broadly ovate, 3–8 mm long, with entire margins.
- Leaves
- Leaves green above (and sometimes glaucous), green or often reddish beneath, ovate in outline, asymmetric, 5–18 × 2–8.5 cm, one side larger, up to 1.3 times the width of the other and with a rounded basal lobe with 2–3 main veins and 1/4 to 1/3 the total length of the lamina, base cordate, margin crenate, apex acuminate, sparsely pilose or glabrous; venation palmate-pinnate, the main vein at an angle to the petiole; petiole often reddish, or with red spots, (3–)6–16 cm long, with ring of white hairs at the junction with the lamina. Inflorescence an axillary dichasial cyme, with up to 6(–12) flowers; peduncle reddish, (3–)6–23 cm long, glabrous; each ramification subtended by a pair of opposite bracts 2–5 mm long, membranous; pedicels 5–23 long with 2 minute bracteoles on those of the ♀ flowers.
- Flowers
- Male flowers: tepals 4, free, pink to white, the outer obovate, 6–15 × 4–10 mm, the inner obovate, 7–19 × 5–13 mm; stamens numerous, filaments free, 1–4 mm long, anthers ellipsoid to subglobose, 0.5–1 mm. Female flowers: tepals 5, pink to white, obovate, 5–13 × 3–8 mm; ovary globose to ellipsoid, 7–8 mm long, 3-locular, 3-winged; placentation axile; styles 3, shortly forked halfway or at apex, glabrous, persistent; stigmatic band yellow, horseshoe-shaped, twisted.
- Fruits
- Fruit a brown capsule with red wings, globose, ovoid or ellipsoid, 7–11 × 6–9 mm excluding the wings; wings very unequal, one laterally triangular and 12–27 mm wide, the other two triangular, rounded, 6–8 mm wide; dehiscence along the junction with the wings. Fig. 2, p. 5.
- Ecology
- On steep rocks in forest or in moist sites, less often in forest without any specification; local, rarely locally common; 750–2400 m.
- Conservation
- Least concern (LC).
- Note
- Typification unclear: the protologue starts with an ‘ined.’ Latin description of B. johnstonii by Oliver, based on Johnston s.n. from Kilimanjaro, ‘5000–6000 feet’; the plate and main description (in English) by Hooker are based on plants grown at Kew, flowered in April 1886, from material sent by Bishop Hannington from Masailand – and there is a specimen dated 1883 at Kew. Irmscher states the Johnston plant is the holotype. We incline towards the Kew ones.
- Distribution
- Flora districts: K1 K4 K6 K7 T2 T3 T6 T7 Range: Not known elsewhere
Native to:
Kenya, Tanzania
Begonia johnstonii Oliv. ex Hook.f. appears in other Kew resources:
Date | Reference | Identified As | Barcode | Type Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tanzania | 17230.000 | |||
Greenway, P.J., Tanzania | 16614.000 | |||
Drummond, R.B. [2765], Tanzania | 11564.000 | |||
Drummond, R.B. [2728], Tanzania | 9971.000 | |||
Archer, P. [8038], Kenya | K000242766 | |||
s.coll. [s.n.], Kenya | 9970.000 | |||
Johnston, H.H., Tanzania | K000242765 | holotype | ||
Hannington, J. [s.n.], Kenya | K000739942 | Unknown type material | ||
Hannington, J. [s.n.], Kenya | K000739943 | Unknown type material | ||
Hannington, J. [s.n.], Kenya | K000739944 |
First published in Bot. Mag. 112: t. 6899 (1886)
Accepted by
- Govaerts, R. (1996). World Checklist of Seed Plants 2(1, 2): 1-492. MIM, Deurne.
Literature
Flora of Tropical East Africa
- U.K.W.F. ed. 2: 92 (1994).
- Cribb & Leedal, Mountain Fl. S Tanzania: 53, pl. 7a (1982)
- E.J. 81: 149 (1961)
- Bot. Mag. 112: t. 6899 (1886)
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Kew Backbone Distributions
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Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2021. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0