Begonia subpeltata

Begonia subpeltata Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 5: t. 1812 1852. (syn: Reichenheimia subpeltata (Wight) Klotzsch);
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S. India, Sri Lanka as per POWO;
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Common name: Shield-Leaf Begonia
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Perennial acaulescent herb. Rhizome horizontal, up to 5 x 1.3 cm, covered with brownish scale-leaves and large leaf-scars (when old); tissue with red vascular strands and bitter taste; each bearing up to c. 5 aerial leaves and 4 inflorescences when fully grown, connected to daughter rhizome by a short, stout, cylindrical, fleshy stolon upto 3 cm long. Leaves symmetrical, broadly ovate, cordate to strongly cordate at base, acute to acuminate at apex, 8-14.5 x 10-15 cm, sometimes slightly lobed or angular, crenate, palmately 5-6 veined; median vein more prominent; upper surface rather shiny, white-hirsute, white-speckled at bases of hairs in young leaves; lower surface pale, glabrous, pilose along veins; petiole erect, 7-33 cm long, stout, succulent, pale greenish to brown, covered with brown scales in young leaves, glabrescent, cylindrical in lower two-thirds, adaxially 2-alate in upper third; alae narrow. Scapes erect, cylindrical, succulent, rather transparent, almost glabrous, pale pink, 10-55 cm long, axillary or arising near axils from top of rhizome, usually one per axil, each subtended or covered when young by 2 bracts; dichasium lax, up to 25-flowered; bracts ovate, acuminate, almost glabrous, whitish, entire, c. 10 x 5 mm; staminate pedicel up to 0.7-2.5 cm long, erect, glabrous; tepals white, staminate tepals 2+2; the outer pair ovate, 10-20 x 8-13 mm, subcordate at base, glabrous; the inner ovate-lanceolate, up to 13 x 7 mm, acute; stamens 35-40, free; filaments c. 1.5 mm long; anther 1-1.5 mm long, oblong; connective truncate or rounded at apex; pistillate pedicels 5-15 mm long, reflexed, glabrous, pale pink, elongating up to 2 cm in capsule; bracteoles 1-2, lanceolate, 5-10 x 2 mm, glabrous, entire, pale pink; pistillate tepals 2 + 3; outer pair larger, rotundate, up to 8 x 10 mm, glabrous; the inner ones up to 9x 7 mm; ovary glabrous, pale green with pinkish reticulation with a purple septal line on each face, 8-11 x 10 mm inclusive of wings; wings more or less equal, c. 5 mm broad, distally acute to round; margin thickened, rough, slightly undulate; placentae lobulate in lower half of ovary, completely bilamellate in top half, chlorophyllous, ovuliferous throughout; styles 3, connate up to halfway, bilobed above; stigmatic zone papillate, undulate. Capsule 10-15 x 15-24 mm inclusive of 5-9 mm broad wings, dehiscing along inner margin of wings. Seeds oblong-oval, 3 mm long, brown.
Flowering and fruiting: September-December
Grasslands
South India and Sri Lanka
(Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi as per India Biodiversity Portal)
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