| Original Botanical Description or Link to | Begonia longiornithophylla C.I Peng, W.B.Xu &
Yan Liu, sp. nov. (Sect. Coelocentrum) 長莖鳥葉秋海棠
(Figs. 7 and 8).
Type: CHINA, Guangxi, Chongzuo Shi, Daxin County,
Xialei Town, Tiandeng Tun, on rocky forest foor,
22°52’19”N, 106°43’31”E, elev. ca. 550 m, plant collected
on 23 June 2008, type specimens (in fowers) pressed
from plants cultivated in the experimental greenhouse,
Academia Sinica, Taiwan, Ching-I Peng 21518-A with
Shin-Ming Ku, Chih-Kai Yang, Wei-Bin Xu, Bo Pan &
Yun-Fei Deng (holotype: IBK; isotypes: E, HAST-144967,
K, KUN, PE).
Monoecious rhizomatous herb. Rhizomes much
elongate, to 50 cm long, 6–12 mm across, internodes
(1–)3–9 cm long, purple red, pilose to tomentose. Stipules persistent, red, herbaceous, ovate, ca. 2 cm long,
8 mm wide, strongly-keeled, apex aristate, arista ca.
3 mm long, villous along midrib, margin ciliate. Leaves
alternate; petioles terete, 3–21 cm long, 5 mm across,
red-brown, villous to tomentose; leaf blade asymmetric, ovate, 5.5–12 cm long, 3.5–8 cm wide, apex
acuminate, base strongly obliquely cordate, subcoriaceous, adaxially green, scabrid and glandular punctate,
abaxially red-scabrous on veins, margin crenulate and
ciliate; venation palmate. Inforescences axillary, arising directly from rhizome, cymes dichasial, branched 2–3 times, protandrous; peduncle 8–20 cm long,
3 mm across, glandular-pilose; bracts persistent, ovate,
10 mm long, 7 mm wide, light yellow green or somewhat with reddish veins, margin serrate, with hair on
the apex of each tooth. Staminate fower: pedicel
ca. 1.8 cm, glandular-pilose, tepals 4, outer 2 elliptic, 15–18 mm long, 12–15 mm wide, pinkish-white,
abaxially red-pilose, margin sparsely ciliate, inner 2
elliptic, ca. 12 mm long, 3 mm wide, white; androecium zygomorphic, ca. 4 mm across, stamens ca. 32,
flaments fused at base, obovate, 2-locular, connective
apex retuse. Pistillate fower: pedicel ca. 18 mm long,
glandular-pilose, tepals 3, outer 2 elliptic to sub-orbicular, 10–15 mm long, ca. 13 mm wide, pinkish-white,
inner 1 oblanceolate, ca. 12 mm long, 4 mm wide,
white, ovary trigonous-ellipsoid, 7–9 mm long, 3 mm
thick (wings excluded), glandular-pilose, 1-locular, placenta parietal, 3-winged; wings unequal, abaxial wing
crescent-shaped, ca. 4 mm high, lateral wings 2 mm
high, pinkish; styles 3, fused at base, yellow, 5 mm long,
stigma spirally twisted. Capsules trigonous-ellipsoid,
ca. 13 mm long, 5 mm thick (wings excluded), style and
stigma persistent; abaxial wing ca. 5 mm high, lateral
wings 3 mm high. Chromosome cytology
Somatic chromosomes at metaphase of Begonia longiornithophylla were counted as 2n=30 (Fig. 9a), identical
to the majority of species of Sect. Coelocentrum (Chung
et al. 2014; Han et al. 2018). Te length of chromosomes
varied from ca. 1.1 to 1.6 µm long. Although several
longer chromosomes were metacentric and/or submetacentric, the centromere positions of most chromosomes
could not be determined. Satellites were not observed.
Distribution and ecology
Southwestern Guangxi, China. On forest foor, creeping
on limestone rocks or clifs in broadleaf forest.
Phenology
Flowering from February to May. Fruiting from May to
July Etymology
Te species epithet refers to its resemblance to Begonia
ornithophylla Irmsch., distinct from the latter by its
elongated rhizomes. |
