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Begonia carolineifolia

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Photo from Nasuta.


Photo by Gareth Jones.


Photo by Julie Vanderwilt, Begonias.org.

Author: Eduard August von Regel, 1852
Family:  BEGONIACEAE
Origin:  Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Southern Mexico
Soil:  Rich
Water:  Maximum
Sun:  Minimum - Medium
Thickness:  5 Centimetres
Height:  60-100 Centimetres
Flower:  Pale Pink
Propagate:  Seeds/Cuttings
Names:  Hand Begonia, Carolinea Begonia, Palmate Begonia
Synonyms:  Gireoudia caroliniaefolia, Johann Friedrich Klotzsch, 1852.
Begonia rotata
, Frederik Michael Liebmann, 1852.
Gireoudia rotata
, Johann Friedrich Klotzsch, 1855.
Tropicos, among others, use the invalid spelling caroliniifolia*.

This member of the Begoniaceae family was almost given this name by Eduard August von Regel in 1852. It is found in Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and southern Mexico, growing in a rather rich soil with some to plenty of water and little to some sun. The swollen stems can grow to five centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to 60 or even 100 centimetres in height. The flowers are pale pink.

The genera name after Michel Bιgon, 1638-1710, once a governor of French Haiti. The species name means 'leaves like Carolinea', a genera in the Malvaceae family.

It was originally published under the invalid spelling "caroliniaefolia".

*) I was puzzled by the different way to spell the name, and Kanchi N. Gandhi from IPNI was kind enough to explain:
In general, the published epithet “caroliniaefolia” is corrected to “caroliniifolia” (as in Tropicos). Such a correction implies that the first term was derived from the genus name “Carolinia”, which does not exist. But, although the etymology is not mentioned within the protologue, it seems obvious from the plate 25 that the specific epithet is based on the generic name Carolinea L. In such cases, the Code Art. 60.8 and Rec. 60G would appear to mandate correction of “caroliniaefolia” to carolineifolia.