Species
B. exotica
See B. brevirimosa subsp. exotica
Photos
5 photos
Identity
- Genus
- Begonia
- Name
- B. exotica
- Author
- Graf ex Golding, J. Golding, Beg.
- Publication Date
- 2004
- Date of Origin
- 1978
- Place
- Baiyer River
- Country
- Papua New Guinea
- Region
- Asia
- Section
- Petermannia
- Plant Type
- Shrub-like
- Synonyms and Comments
- B. brevirimosa ssp. exotica Tebbitt, Begonias 5:93-4. 2005;
- Reference
- J. Golding, Begonian 71:168, pl. 1, 3-5. ;Beg. 78:287;Beg 72:109;Beg 77:249; JGSL9/08;
- Article References
- Tebbitt, Begonias 5:93-4. 2005.; The Begonian (39) Dec 1972, p. 270;
- Photo References
- Tebbitt, Begonias pls.41 & 161. 2005; Begonias, Misono 1974: 52 (67);
Plant
- Description
- BEGONIA 'EXOTICA' By J. S. Womersley, Chief, Division of Botany, LAB, New Guinea So misleading is the article by Wallace A. Wagner in the June, 1972 issue of the Begonian that I must, in all fairness to this country of Papua New Guinea and to botanical science, offer these comments. The introductory paragraph must have been written to describe this country some fifty years ago. The country is mountainous, hot on the coast, wet and steamy in some areas, elsewhere decidedly dry with a monsoonal climate. Rainfall patterns vary greatly and to speak of an average rainfall for the country is meaningless. Typical rainfalls are Port Moresby (monsoonal) 40" per year, Lae, well distributed but a definite wet season and drier season, 176" per year. The highest recording is on the south coast of New Britain, 400" at Gasmata. Highland towns are seasonally dry with 60-80" per year. Government and economic development has come rapidly to New Guinea. Prior to 1939 Papua, an Australian Territory was dependent on the Australian Government for an annual grant. New Guinea, administered by Australia under a mandate from the League of Nations had considerable income from gold and copra and was financially independent. With the cessation of hostilities, the Territory of Papua and the newly granted Trusteeship of New Guinea were jointly administered by Australia. Today, self-government is just around the corner with December 1973 as the target date. The House of Assembly has 104 elected 270 members of whom only a few are non-indigenous. The annual budget is of the order of 160 million dollars Australan. Roads penetrate widely from Lae to the highlands. The 360-mile trunk route to Mount Hagen carries over 400 trucks, some up to 50-ton semi-trailer type vehicles. Driving time by car to Mt. Hagen from Lae is about 11 hours. The highest point on the road exceeds 8,000 feet above sea level. Beyond Mt. Hagen rural roads extend to the north, west and south. At the end of one of these roads is Baiyer River. Here is the home of the plant which has acquired the colloquial name of Begonia 'Exotica', a name which must, I think, he credited to A. B. Graf. The original discovery of this plant was made by the present writer with A. G. Floyd on November 26th, 1954. The field note which accompanies the herbarium collection reads "An erect herb up to 4 feet in a creek (stream) . Leaves dark · green with purplish pink patches. Flowers pink. Altitude 3000 feet above sea level. My recollection is that the plants were in dense shade and well protected by surrounding vegetation. On the specimen we hold and in my memory, the inflorescences were lateral, not terminal as described for Begonia brevirimosa. Duplicates of the original collection, under the number NGF 6846 were sent to the herbaria at Leiden, Brisbane and the Arnold & Gray Herbarium. For some years plants of this species grew well in Lae and from these distributions have been made to botanic gardens throughout the world. In recent years this fine plant has largely disappeared from cultivation in New Guinea. Several return visits have been made to Baiyer River seeking this plant without success. No attempt has been made by botanists to name this or any of the many hundreds of specimens of Begonia which have been collected since 1946 in Papua New Guinea. This is largely due to the fact that Irmscher had most if not all of the collections of Begonia from New Guinea in Berlin when the herbarium there was bombed in 1945. These collections were not among those which survived. It is therefore necessary to work from the descriptions which in themselves are based on dried specimens and are not related to growing plants. The soil in which this plant was growing in nature was alluvial, acid with humus, well drained, yet probably always moist. There was no association with limestone. We have had further collections of either the same species with differently colored leaves or a closely related species from several places on the coastal areas of New Britain. This plant is occasionally seen in cultivation in New Guinea. Comparison of the specimens NGF 6846 with Irmscher's description of Begonia brevirimosa reveal, in addition to the inflorescence differences referred to above a number of other points of difference which indicate that the tentative identification from Edinburgh cannot be substantiated. In conclusion· a plea for horticultural work with the Begonia species in New Guinea. The number of species is considerable but many warrant introduction to horticulture. A collector could easily spend a full year in the field travelling widely. Provided the basis of collections is scientifically sound considerable guidance and help could be provided. J. S. Womersely Chief, Division of Botany LAE, New Guinea
Lineage
Parents
No parentage recorded.
B. brevirimosa ssp. exotica Tebbitt, Begonias 5:93-4. 2005;
Descendants
No recorded descendants.
Culture
No populated fields in this section.