A synopsis of Begonia (Begoniaceae) of Southeastern Sulawesi including four new species

Abstract

Material acquired on a recent expedition to Southeastern Sulawesi, Indonesia, presents an opportunity to reassess and provide an overview of the Begonia flora of the region. Eleven species are recognized including four new species described and illustrated here: Begonia incudiformicarpa, B. iskandariana, and B. tumburanoensis (all in Begonia section Jackia); and B. johntania (Begonia section Petermannia). The former three species are the first confirmed records of section Jackia on Sulawesi substantially extending the known eastern range limit of this section. In addition, an illustration and a lectotypification of Begonia flacca are presented, and an identification key to Begonia species in Southeastern Sulawesi is provided.

Resolving Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Conflict in Begonia

“…In Asia, modern floristic works are available for Bhutan (Grierson, 1991), China (Gu et al, 2007), Thailand (Phutthai et al, 2019), the Solomon Islands (Lin et al, 2021a) and Sri Lanka (Jayasuriya, 1983), alongside older treatments for India and the Philippines (Clarke, 1879;Warburg, 1904) and continental Southeast Asia (Gagnepain, 1921). Modern regional floras have been published for Peninsular Malaysia (Kiew, 2005), northern Sulawesi (Ardi & Thomas, 2022), southeastern and Southwest Sulawesi (Ardi et al, 2018;Thomas & Ardi, 2020) and Northeast India (Camfield & Hughes, 2018), with some works available for smaller areas such as the Melinau Limestone in Gunung Mulu National Park (Julia et al, 2013), the Matarombeo karst in Sulawesi (Thomas et al, 2018) and Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park in Vietnam (Lin et al, 2021b).…”

Synopsis of Begonia (Begoniaceae) From the Northern Arm of Sulawesi and Sangihe Island, Indonesia, Including Three New Species

“…As part of our ongoing revisionary taxonomic studies on Begonia from Sulawesi, Indonesia, we have carried out extensive fieldwork on the island over the past decade. This work, alongside additional botanical exploration by our collaborators, has resulted in the identification of a considerable number of new Begonia species on the island (Hughes, 2006;Thomas & Hughes, 2008;Girmansyah et al, 2009;Thomas et al, 2009aThomas et al, , 2009bThomas et al, , 2011Wiriadinata, 2013;Ardi et al, 2014;Lin et al, 2017;Ardi et al, 2018;Thomas et al, 2018;Dayanti et al, 2020;Ardi et al, 2021). Additionally, two regional synopses of Sulawesi Begonia, focusing on southeast and southwest Sulawesi (Ardi et al, 2018, andArdi, 2020, respectively), have recently been published.…”

Morphological diversity and phenetic relationship of wild and cultivated Begonia based on morphology and leaf venation

“…The discovery of new species in Indonesia in recent years is evidence of the high diversity of natural Begonia species. During the last three years, several explorations reported new species, such as four new species from Southeastern Sulawesi (Ardi et al 2018), one species from Seram Island, Maluku, namely Begonia mufidahkallae (Ardaka and Ardi 2019), three new species from Kalimantan (Hughes et al 2020), and the discovery of Begonia daunhitam from West Kalimantan (Wang et al 2020). The high species diversity in this genus makes studying taxonomy and its potential development as an ornamental plant very interesting.…”