Studies on Begonia(begoniaceae) of the Molucca Islands I: Two New Species From Halmahera, Indonesia and an Updated Description of Begonia Holosericea

Abstract

Two new species of Begonia, Begonia holosericeoides Ardi & D. C. Thomas and B. aketajawensis Ardi & D. C. Thomas, are described from Aketajawe Lolobata National Park, Halmahera, Indonesia. The two species belong to Begonia section Petermannia. Begonia holosericea, previously only tentatively assigned to a section, is here assigned to section Petermannia based on the examination of newly available material. Additionally, a revised description and an illustration are provided. A key to the Moluccan species of Begonia is presented.

Studies on Begonia (Begoniaceae) of the Moluccas III: A new Begonia from Seram, Indonesia

“…Begonia aptera Blume Mollucas, Papua, Sulawesi (Wiriadinata, 2012;Ardi et al, 2014;Ardi & Thomas, 2015;Hughes et al, 2015;Ardhaka et al, 2016). Inflorescences axillary, protogynous, female partial inflorescence 1-2-flowered, basal to the male partial inflorescences, peduncles c. 3 mm long; male partial inflorescences 2-3, monochasial, each monochasium with 2-4 flowers, peduncles c. 5 mm long; bracts ovate to elliptic, 10-20 × 7-10 mm, creamy, tinged pink, with an abaxially prominent midrib and sparse tiny red scales, apex projecting acuminate.…”

“…Refers to the leaf shape which resembles a kidney. (Wiriadinata, 2012;Ardi et al, 2014;Ardi & Thomas, 2015;Hughes et al, 2015;Ardhaka et al, 2016) (Thomas et al, 2013), but Begonia nephrophylla can easily be distinguished from all of these species by the moderately dense indumentum of fleshy, branched, appressed red scales on the stems, petioles and abaxial leaf lamina veins. Otherwise Begonia nephrophylla is morphologically similar to B. galeolepis from Seram except that its creeping stem never tends to be erect or semi erect, while in B. galeolepis it initially has a semi-erect stem which becomes creeping when older.…”

“…The Moluccas have relatively few species compared to the other islands in the eastern part of Indonesia, Sulawesi and Papua. As for most of the region, the Begonia flora of the islands is poorly known, as indicated by recent new species discoveries (Wiriadinata, 2012;Ardi et al, 2014;Ardi & Thomas, 2015;Ardhaka et al, 2016;) and as-yet undescribed species in both living and herbarium collections. Currently there are eight species known from the Moluccas, of which six are endemic to the archipelago or locally endemic to a single island (Table 1).…”

Short Communication: Waterbird species distribution between natural and manmade wetland in Himalayan foothills of Uttarakhand, India

“…The number of species is now estimated to be more than 200, which are distributed from Sumatra to Papua, including in addition to the main islands numerous small islands. The island of Java has 15 species of indigenous Begonia, Sumatra 63 species, Kalimantan 8 species, Sulawesi 44, and Irian (New Guinea) 70 species (Ardi et al 2014;Hughes et al 2015a,b;Thomas et al 2016). Begonia can be found in various types of habitat, ranging from karst hills and lowland tropical rain forests, up to mountain sites 2,400 m in asl..…”

A New Species of Begonia (Begoniaceae) From Manusela National Park, Seram

“…It is distributed in tropical and subtropical Africa, America and Asia, with more than one third of the species recorded from Southeast Asia (Hughes, 2008 (Ardi et al, 2014) and B. galeolepis (Ardi & Thomas, 2015).…”