Begonia

Begonia is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species, distributed primarily across tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, with Africa considered the center of origin. Some species are commonly grown indoors as ornamental houseplants in cooler climates, or cultivated outside in summertime for their bright colorful flowers, which have petals but no sepals.

Description

With 2,000+ species, Begonia is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. The species are terrestrial (sometimes epiphytic) herbs or undershrubs, and occur in subtropical and tropical moist climates, in South and Central America, Africa, and southern Asia. Terrestrial species in the wild are commonly upright-stemmed, rhizomatous, or tuberous. The plants are monoecious, with unisexual male and female flowers occurring separately on the same plant; the male contains numerous stamens, and the female has a large inferior ovary and two to four branched or twisted stigmas. Flowers come in all colors other than blue, and range in size from tiny individual blossoms to blooms the size of dinner plates. In most species, the fruit is a winged capsule containing numerous minute seeds, although baccate fruits are also known. The leaves, which are often large and variously marked or variegated, are usually asymmetric such that their left side and right side are different sizes. The plants vary in size from less than a foot to the recently discovered Begonia giganticaulis which can exceed twelve feet (3.6 meters) in height.

Etymology

The genus name Begonia was coined by Charles Plumier, a French monk and botanist after discovering six new species in the Antilles, which he named Begonia to honor Michel Bégon, a former governor of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). The first time the name Begonia was used in print was in 1700, in a publication by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort. In 1753, Carl Linnaeus merged the original six species into one (Begonia obliqua). It was published in Species Plantarum and the name has been used ever since.