Studies on Begonia (Begoniaceae) of the Moluccas II: a new species from Seram, Indonesia

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

“…However apart those characters, the larger lamina (6-10 × 4-6.5 cm) with a biserrate margin, the sparse indumentum of long white hairs (not flattened scales), shorter pedicels both female (up to 3.5 mm vs 1.6-4 cm) and male flowers (up to 3.3 cm vs. 3-6 cm) separate this species from B. manuselaensis. The unusual indumentum of flattened red scales are very rare in Asian Begonia, and its only been found in a Begonia species from Seram, Begonia galeolepis Ardi & D. C. Thomas, (Ardi & Thomas, 2015), but it can be easily differentiated from B. galeolepis by its thinner stem (2 mm in diameter vs. 10 mm), sparser and smaller flattened red scales, smaller leaf size (4.8-7 × 3-5 cm vs. 16-23.8 × 12.5-17.2 cm), and fewer male flowers inflorescences (1-(2) vs. 2-3).…”

“…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).…”

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

“…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.…”

“…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.…”

“…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).…”