Species
B. davisii*
Photos
5 photos
Identity
- Genus
- Begonia
- Name
- B. davisii*
- Author
- J. D. Hooker, Bot. Mag.
- Publication Date
- 1876
- Date of Origin
- 1876
- Country
- Peru, Bolivia
- Region
- America
- Section
- Eupetalum?***not in 2018 revision
- Chr 2n
- 28
- Plant Type
- Tuberous
- Synonyms and Comments
- * name unresolved; B. davisii hort. Veitch ex J. D. Hooker. 1876, , pro syn. B. davisii J.D. Hooker. 1876. ; B. weddelliana auct. non A. de Candolle: Britton, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 17:284, pls.6–7. 1890.—L.B. Smith & B.G. Schubert, Revista Univ. (Cuzco) 33(87):76. 1944;
- Reference
- Bot. Mag. 102:pl. 6252. 1876; JGSL9/08;
- Article References
- Belgique Horticole, t. 27 (1877); The Garden, v. 13 1878;
- Photo References
- The Begonian, Feb 1948;
Plant
- Description
- Belgique Horticole, t. 27 (1877) B. Davisii: Recently in Europe, the Begonias of Peru, which are the origin of tuberous Begonias: these are the B. boliviensis (Belgian Hort., 1868., pl. 5) B. Veitchii (Belgian Hort., 1868, pl. 6) and B. rosaeflora (Belgian Hort, 1868, pl. 7). They have made their stock, and, at this moment, tuberous Begonias are the great novelty for the ornamentation of gardens. They are grown almost like Dahlia's. They are sown, crossed and hybrid and they grow and beautify each year. They love each other so well in our gardens that they are doubling their flowers, at least their staminate flowers. A new species has just been added to those which were known; it is the Begonia davisii introduced into horticulture by MM. Veitch, and in botany by Dr. Hooker. It was discovered in Peru, near Chupe, at an altitude of 10,000 feet, by Mr. Davis, one of the most successful collectors of MM. Veitch. It is small, but very florid and decorative. Its oval-oblique leaves are close to the ground and pubescent on both sides. The flowers come in threes on erect stems that rise to ten or twenty centimeters in height. The male flowers are up to six centimeters wide and are the purest vermilion imaginable. The female flowers are a little smaller, but of all color, so bright. The plant is tuberous. Begonia Davisii can be cultivated in a cold green house as long as it is bright and airy, but it is likely to be more suitable outdoors in the summer. In fall, they can be removed for storage until the following spring, with Cannas, Dahlias, and Gesneriads. It is important not to confuse this new species with a horticultural variety of Begonia insignis, which was already known as B. Davisii.; Flora of Peru. by J. Francis Macbride. Chicago, Ill. Field Museum of Natural History, [1941] v. 13: pt. 4: no.1 (1941): Page 181- 202 http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/19800 Subacaulescent herb with tuberous base. Leaves spreading, palminerved, obliquely ovate-cordate to suborbicular, 8 cm. long, subacute, green and glossy above with scattered stiff hairs, more glabrous and red beneath, margins shallowly lobulate and crenulate, ciliate, petiole 4- 5 cm. long, stout, hirsute. Peduncles simple, erect, 12 cm. long, bright red, glabrous, 3-4-flowered. Bracts 2, broadly ovate or oblong, 15-18 mm. long, serrate, ciliate, red. Pedicels 2- 3 cm. long. Flowers bright red. Staminate tepals 4, subequal, 3 cm. long, the outer broadly ovate, subacute, the inner elliptic, obtuse. Stamens free, 8-10, anthers oblong, as long as the filaments. Pistillate tepals 5, elliptic. Styles 3, 2-parted, the stigmatic tissue linear, spiral, continuous, placentae bifid. Capsule-wings subdeltoid, one 3-4 times larger than the others. Indefinite: Near Chupe, 3,000 meters, Davis. Endemic; Bot. Mag. t. 6252; The Garden, 1877, vol. xi. p. 70, with fig.; Fl. Mag. 11. s. pl. 231; Veitch’s' Catalog. of Pl. 1879, p. 22; Fl. and Poro. 1877, p. 85, col. pl. Introduced from the Andes of Peru through Walter Davis, after whom it is named. The plant of dwarf tufted habit has elegant bluish-green foliage, purple on the under surface, and handsome dazzling scarlet flowers. This species was effectively used as a parent by Seden in obtaining a dwarf race of hybrids suitable for summer-bedding: From The Begonian, July, 1940, By RUDOLF ZIESENHENNE, Director of Nomenclature BEGONIA DAVISII, Veitch, this begonia was collected by Mr. Davis, an Englishman, for Messrs. Veitch, near Chupe, Peru, at an elevation of 10,000 feet. It flowered for the first time under cultivation at the nursery of Messrs. Veitch in July 1876. It is an excellent pot plant and may also be used in the shaded rock garden or wall garden. It was introduced into the nursery trade in 1879. Davisii, Veitch, is one of the parents of the multiflora type tuberous begonias. In the past, several very good double varieties of this plant were produced, among them being Davisii hybrida flore pleno, Davisii flore pleno, Davisii plena superb a, Davisii lutea plena, Canary Bird, M. Casset, and others. Plants of this type were low-growing. Some of the single named varieties were Miss Constance Veitch, Scarlet Gem, Novelty, and Mrs. Arthur Potts. Unfortunately, none of these hybrids are now in cultivation. The culture of begonia Davisii, Veitch, is the same as for the tuberous hybrid begonias. Propagation is usually by seed, although cuttings may be used as well as divisions of the tuber. Botanically this species belongs to section Huszia, Klotzsch, along with B. octopetala, L'Her, Veitchii, Hook, F., B. rosaeflora, Hook. F., Froebelii, A. DC. & B. Baumanii Lem. The plants in this section are mostly tuberous. Description: Root tuberous, almost round, of a greenish-brown color and small. The plant will grow to a foot tall, the very short stems being numerous, succulent, green with a touch of red, and having few scattered downy hairs. The leaf stems are up to five inches long, greenish with pale red stripes, with few scattered downy hairs, with a red area about a quarter of an inch long at the end of the stem where it joins the leaf. Leaf slanting, round heart-shaped, 4 ½ x 3 ¼ inches in size, is a glossy dark green above, with broad nerves slightly raised; underside the veins are green and the leaf blade reddish, with few scattered hairs. Margins are scalloped-toothed, with hairs protruding occasionally from the teeth. Flower stems carried from the leaf axils, to 7 inches long, are red and free of hairs. Scarlet flowers appear from two to five on a stem, males being four-petaled, about 1 ½ inches in diameter. The backs of the petals are lighter. The few stamens are held by filaments separated from the flower base. Female flowers are 5-petaled, the vertical petals being larger than the horizontal ones as in the males. Seed pods are three-winged, one of which is much longer than the others, the three-celled placenta being divided into two folds with seeds produced on the four surfaces. Stigmas are three-divided. Each stigma is divided into two segments which are screw-like, with two twists. These beautiful, free-blooming, and easily cultivated flowers are rapidly becoming great favorites; and the more widely they become known, the more will they commend themselves to the notice of horticulturists, as undoubtedly the best value they can possibly obtain for their money- in the first instance, during the months of June, July, August, and September as ornaments of the summer bedding garden ; and, secondly, as soon as there is any danger of frost at night, as ornaments of the conservatory for another month or six weeks by lifting them into pots from the beds, which can be done ,without the slightest check, as they invariably lift with capital balls and masses of fibrous roots closely and compactly surrounding the tuber. They thus afford from five to five and a half months of continuous and unintermittent bloom, which is more than any other plant with which we are acquainted will do. All that they require to make them thrive and grow luxuriantly and quickly into large, freely-branching tufts, which soon completely cover the beds, is a light rich soil, and copious watering while making their growth if the summer be at all hot or rain abstain from falling for any length of time. The beds should also not be planted too thickly, as if the tubers be at all strong and of good size they make such vigorous and abundant growth, that if put too close to one another, the plants ,will soon crowd and interfere with their neighbors; but when this inadvertently happens, every second one may with perfect safety be taken up even in the middle of summer and removed to another bed, where, after a good watering, it will next day appear as if it had never been transplanted at all, and the room afforded by its removal will be most welcome and serviceable to those left in the bed, allowing them fully to develop themselves, by means of which growth they will soon cover and fill up the gaps made by the removals in question. All that they require is a sheltered situation, well and fully exposed to the sun, as the only thing to which they object is exposure to high winds, which are apt to break off the soft succulent stems at their junction with the tuber. No amount of heavy rain does them the slightest injury; the blooms are not knocked off by it, and though the heads droop somewhat and bend under it, they rise again absolutely uninjured as soon as the sun shines out after the shower. Those who wish to increase their stock of these lovely' plants (as most who once begin their cultivation will desire to do) should begin in good time to take off their cuttings, just as they would those of a Zonal Pelargonium, about the middle of July, and these cuttings will root freely in silver sand and water in from a fortnight to three weeks, and before the end of the season make good-sized tubers, which often give a little bloom towards the end of autumn, and flower abundantly in the open ground the following year. Indeed, young tubers in about their second year often yield individually finer blooms than older and larger ones, which, as soon as they commence- to start and show the eyes from whence the shoots spring, may be cut up just like a Potato. The accompanying plate gives a faithful and accurate representation of three of the finest hybrids of British origin that have yet been obtained. The white one, named ‘Queen of the Whites’, is not yet in commerce, but it will be distributed by the Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, as soon as they can get up sufficient stock of it. The free-blooming, though smaller-flowered, species named ‘Davisi’, after Messrs. Veitch's collector, Mr. Davis, who sent tubers of it to them from Peru, is also not yet in commerce. The name of the lighter-shaded variety under ‘Davisi’ is ‘Emperor’, sent out in 1877; and that of the fine, darker-shaded variety at the bottom of the plate is ‘Acme’, sent out the previous year, and which is certainly one of the finest and most free-blooming of all varieties. 'The Queen of the Whites’, obtained as a chance-comer among a lot of seedlings of B. rosaeflora, seems also to be an exceedingly free bloomer, a pan of small plants, all of them finely in bloom, being sent by Messrs. Veitch to the great show at Carlisle last autumn, where they presented an exceedingly pretty appearance, the shade of white resembling that of Cypripedium niveum. - W. E. G.
- Plant Height
- Low
Lineage
Parents
No parentage recorded.
* name unresolved; B. davisii hort. Veitch ex J. D. Hooker. 1876, , pro syn. B. davisii J.D. Hooker. 1876. ; B. weddelliana auct. non A. de Candolle: Britton, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 17:284, pls.6–7. 1890.—L.B. Smith & B.G. Schubert, Revista Univ. (Cuzco) 33(87):76. 1944;
Descendants
No recorded descendants.
Culture
No populated fields in this section.