Begonia roxburghii

Begonia roxburghii A.DC., Prodr. 15(1): 398 1864. (syn: Begonia malabarica Roxb. [Illegitimate]; Casparya oligocarpa A.DC.; Casparya polycarpa A.DC.; Diploclinium roxburghii Miq.);

Himalaya to Myanmar as per WCSP;

Assam; Bangladesh; East Himalaya; Myanmar; Nepal; West Himalaya as per Catalogue of Life

Common name: East Himalayan Begonia • Khasi: Dieng jajew • Rongmei: Joukibarut

Succulent herbs, up to 80 cm tall; rootstock rhizomatous; stems erect with red streaks, often branched. Leaves simple, opposite; stipules ca. 1.5-2 x 0.5-0.8 cm, lanceolate; petioles ca. 2.5-6 cm long; lamina ca. 9-17 x 5-14 cm, broadly ovate, asymmetrical, unequally cordate to strongly cordate at base, acuminate at apex, margins obscurely serrate, minutely pubescent on both surfaces on veins, densely pubescent in young leaves; secondary nerves 7-9 pairs. Inflorescences peduncled; peduncles axillary, glabrous, red or pink; cymes few-flowered, 3 or more times dichotomous; bracts persistent; Male flowers: tepals 2 + 2, outer white, deeply concave, almost hemispherical in outline, inner somewhat narrow, white, concave with semirevolute margins; stamens 50, clustered in a subglobose bundle; Female flowers: densely covered with minute, brown, glandular hairs; tepals 4 to 5, on dorsal surface densely covered with minute hairs, the outer tepals irregularly oval in shape, inner tepals oval-oblong; styles 4, 2-fid from the base forming continous spiral bands; stigma branched, stigmatic papillae make a continuous helical band with several turns; ovary quadrangular, pyramidal, 4-celled, fleshy, wingless and minutely horned at the angles; placentae twice divided. Capsules ca. 1.2 cm in diam., 4-lobed, turgid, pendant. Seeds ellipsoid.

Common in underneath primary forests, soil with thick humus; moist and shaded places along the stream; 400-800 m.

India: Karnataka, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam: Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and China

(Attributions – French Institute of Pondicherry from India Biodiversity Portal)