Cultivar
B. ‘Phyllomaniaca’
Photos
5 photos
Identity
- Genus
- Begonia
- Name
- B. ‘Phyllomaniaca’
- Originator
- W. Early
- Date of Origin
- 1866
- Plant Type
- Thick Stem
- Female Parent
- B. incarnata var. incarnata
- Male Parent
- B. manicata var. manicata
- Synonyms and Comments
- B. ‘Phyllomaniaca Hybrida’;
- Publication Reference
- HF; B73 d130;
- Article References
- Curtis's botanical magazine, v. 87 = ser. 3, v. 17, 1861;
- Photo References
- Tebbitt, Begonias pl.124. 2005; Begonias, Misono 1974: 101 (159);
Plant
- Description
- Curtis's botanical magazine, v. 87 = ser. 3, v. 17, 1861 B. phyllomaniaca: This Begonia has been received from the Berlin Botanic Garden under the name of B. prolifera, and, as is too much the case with horticulturists, without any authority for the name attached to it, or any notice of the country whence it has been derived; and in the present state of the very difficult genus Begonia, with the several changes that it has undergone, first by the late Dr. Klotzsch, and more recently by M. Alphonse De Candolle, it would seem a hopeless task to endeavor to a certain if it is anywhere described. Fortunate]y it possesses a character which led to the determination of the species in this case, namely, in the whole surface of the stem, and to a certain extent the leaf-stalks also, being all quite ‘herisse'~ or squarrose, and proliferous, so to say, with minute leaves, single or in clusters, which are capable of forming new plants, and which appear in some cases to burst through the bark of the stem, at other times soft spine-like, green papillae develop themselves into these leaf-buds. The only mention I can find of it is in Hook. Kew Garden (Misc. vol. iv. p. 206) in a communication from Dr. Wallich, to the following effect: “At one of the last meetings of the Royal Bavarian Academy at Munich, a very remarkable species of Begonia was exhibited by Professor von Martius, having this extraordinary peculiarity, that it produces from the stem, branches and petioles, innumerable leaflets, which on being detached and placed on moist ground, produce roots and plants. To mark this singular property, the Professor calls the species B. phyllomaniaca, being possessed by Phyllomania. On the margin and apex of these leaflets (which sometimes cover the plant to the extent of a thousand, and which at first are hair-shaped), cells are produced, single or united into groups (three to six), and filled with a yellow juice. One common cell often envelops one of these little groups, and afterwards peels off, “Ready to constitute a new plant.” This is Phyllomania in earnest. The account is accompanied by a brief but very accurate description, which leaves no doubt of the identity of our plant with it. • Since the above was written, I find in the latest Fasciculus (xxvii.) of Von Martius's 'Flora Brasiliensis,' which has just reached my hands, a very full account of this plant, at p. 386, where it is referred to the group of Gereondia of Begonia (genus Gereondia of Klotzsch), and admirable representations at t. 99 & 100 of the plant itself, and the very remarkable physiological structure of the minute leaves and leaf-buds, in a numerous series of figures. The species is said to inhabit Guatemala, and, probably, Brazil.
Lineage
3 descendants
Parents
B. ‘Phyllomaniaca Hybrida’;
Ancestry tree
Descendants
3 recorded children
As female parent
3
As male parent
0
No children recorded with this plant as the male parent.
Culture
No populated fields in this section.