Bejaria
An elegant genus of greenhouse evergreen shrubs, closely allied to Rhododendron. Flowers bracteate; corolla very deeply seven-cleft, spreading. Leaves racemose or corymbose, crowded, quite entire, coriaceous. They thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Propagated by cuttings, made of the young wood, and placed in sandy soil, in gentle heat.
B. aestuans (glowing).* fl. purple; corymbs terminal, simple; peduncles, pedicels, rachi, calyces, and branchlets clothed with clammy glandular hairs. l. elliptic, rather glabrous above, but downy and glaucous beneath, while young clothed with rusty tomentum. Plant much branched; branchlets sub-verticillate. h. 10ft. to 15ft. Peru, 1846. SYN. Acunna oblonga. (G. C. 1848, 119.) B. cinnamomea (cinnamon-coloured). fl. purple; panicles close, terminal; peduncles wolly, hispid. l. slightly downy above, rusty tomentose benath. Branches downy, hispid. h. 4ft. Peru, 1847.
B. coarctata (close-headed). fl. purple; corymbs terminal, simple; peduncles, pedicels, rachi, and calyces clothed with rusty tomentum. l. oblong, glabrous, glaucous benath. Shrub much branched. h. 4ft. to 5ft. Peru, 1847. (G. C. 1848, 175.) B. glauca (glaucous).* fl. flesh-coloured; racemes terminal and axillary; pedicels somewhat fastigaiate. June. l. oblong, obtuse, glaucous beneath. Shrub much branched; branchlets angular. h. 3ft. to 6ft. South America, 1826. B. ledifolia (Ledum-leaved).* fl. purple; racemes terminal; peduncles, pedicels, rachi, branchlets, and calyces clothed with clammy glandular hairs. l. oblong, somewhat mucronate, with revolute edges, glaucous beneath, glandular. Shrub much branched; branches purplish. h. 3ft. to 4ft. South America, 1847. (F. d. S. 3, 195.) B. racemosa (racemed). fl. purple, disposed in racemose terminal panicles. July. l. ovate-lanceolate, glabrous; branchlets smooth or hispid. h. 3ft. to 5ft. Georgia, 1810.
BEGONIA (named after M. Begon, a French patron of botany). ORD. Begoniaceae. A large genus of succulent herbs or undershrubs (a few climbers), in many of which the stem is reduced to a tuberous rhizome, whilst some are distinctly tuberous. Flowers usually showy and large, white, rose, scarlet, or yellow, unisexual; perianth segments petaloid, four to five divisions, rarely two. Stamens numerous, filaments free or united at the base. Ovary inferior, styles two to four, free, sometimes connate, stigmas branched or twisted. Fruit capsular, rarely succulent, often winged. Seeds numerous, minute. Leaves alternate, more or less unequal-sided, entire, or lobed, or toothed. Flower-stalks axillary, cymose. Distribution: Species about 350, in all tropical moist countries, especially South America and India; not known in Australia. Cultivated species (exclusive of garden hybrids and varieties) about 150. A large number of genera, or what were considered as such are now merged in Begonia--viz., Barya, Baryandra, Casparya, Pritzelia, &c. The rich colours and beautiful form of the flowers of Begonias, their prettily-marked foliage, and free-growing, free-blossoming nature, have long marked them out as favourite garden plants. Within the last twenty years a new race, characterised by a tuberous root-stock, annual herbaceous stem, and large handsome flowers, has been introduced from the Andes of South America, from which, by means of careful cross-fertilisation and selection, a large number of beautiful and almost hardy kinds have been raised. The size, substance, and rich colours of the flowers of the majority of the plants of this race of Begonias are witness to what may be done by skilful cultivation and careful cross-breeding among plants. In the same way the large-leaved, stemless section, of which B. Rex may be taken as the type and principal progenitor, have been improved both in the size and the coloration of their foliage, and countless forms are now in cultivation, both as garden plants and for the decoration of rooms, &c. The propagation of Begonias may be accomplished by means of seeds, which are freely produced by almost all the cultivated kinds, by cuttings, by division of the rhizomes, and--in the case of the large-leaved kinds--by leaf-cuttings. For the first of these methods it is necessary that the seeds should be well ripened before they are gathered, and kept dry until sown. Where it is desired to increase any particular kind of garden origin, seeds are useless, none of the hybrid or seedling forms perpetuating themselves through their seeds, although equally beautiful sorts may be raised from them. The characters of all true species are, however, reproduced in their seedlings. For the successful raising of Begonia seeds it is necessary to sow them on pans or pots of well-drained, light, sandy soil, which should be well watered before the seeds are sown. The seeds should not be covered with soil, or they will fail to germinate. Over the pans a pane of glass should be placed, and they should then be stood in warm house or a frame where a temperature of about 65deg. can be maintained, and shaded from sunshine. As soon as the plantlets are large enough to be safely manipulated, they should be pricked off into pans of light leaf-mould soil, in which they may remain until large enough to be placed singly in pots. Cuttings: These strike freely if planted in small pots, in sand and leaf mould, and placed on a bottom heat of 70deg. Where large quantities are required, a bed of cocoa nut-fibre in a stove or propagating frame may be used, and in this the cuttings may be planted and remain until well rooted. Leaf cuttings succeed best when laid on sand or cocoa-nut fibre, and shaded from bright sunlight. In preparing the leaves, old, well-matured ones should be selected, and incisions made with a sharp knife across the principal nerves on the underside. They should then be placed on the sand or fibre and held down by means of a few pieces of crock. Under this treatment, bulbils will form on the lower ends of the nerves of each section of the leaf, and these, when large enough, may be removed from the bed and potted. With the exception of B. Evansiana (discolor), an almost hardy species from North China, all the shrubby species require a warm or intermediate house for their cultivation, although during the summer months a frame or sheltered bed answers for most of them, provided they are removed into their warm winter quarters on the approach of cold weather. Some of the species, such as B. Dregei, B. semperflorens, B. nitida, B. fuchsioides, B. lindleyana, B. Richardsiana, along with the hybrids Ascotensis, Knowsleyana, Weltoniensis, and Ingramii, are grown in pots out of doors all the summer, and under liberal treatment they form large handsome specimens, which are of great value as flowering plants for the conservatory in winter. The tuberous-rooted her-baceous kinds should be started in heat in February, and, when vigorous growth has commenced, be gradually hardened off, for use either as bedding plants or as pot specimens for flowering in the greenhouse. A mixture of loam and leaf mould with a little sand and rotten cowdung is suitable for the cultivation of these plants in pots. Liberal supplies of water should be given during the growing season. As the growth decays, water should be withheld until finally the tubers may be shaken out of the soil and placed in dry sand or cocoa-nut fibre, in a house or shed where a temperature above freezing can be maintained. B. gracilis and its varieties, diversifolia and Martiana, are beautiful greenhouse plants, which thrive well if treated as advised for the other tuberous-rooted kinds, with the addition of a few more degrees of heat. The Rex section requires a light rich soil, plenty of moisture, and a shaded position in a warm greenhouse. These kinds are often employed with good effect for clothing peat-covered walls in ferneries, or as an undergrowth in large tropical houses. Large specimens have been grown under the stage in a warm house, the shade and moisture of such a position being exactly what they best delight in.
B. socotrana, an interesting species from the island of Socotra, is somewhat singular in its requirements. The stem is herbaceous and annual, and about its base a cluster of bulbils are formed, from every one of which a plant will be developed the following year. The growing season for this species is from September to March, after which it goes to rest for the whole summer. A tropical temperature and-all the light possible, are essential to the well-doing of this plant.
It is interesting to note the apparent impossibility to cross any of the shrubby Begonias with the distinctly tuberous-rooted species; and even the species of the shrubby section, whose stems are semi-tuberous, have hitherto refused to commingle with the South American tuberous kinds, of which B. Veitchii, B. rosaeflora, and B. boliviensis may be said to be typical. The infusion of the blood of these large, handsome-flowered kinds into the tall, shrubby species, would almost certainly result in the production of a race of splendid winter-flowering greenhouse plants, and it is therefore in every way desirable that no pains should be spared to break through the obstacle to the union of the two races.
Explanation of contractions: T, tuberous-rooted; S, shrubby. B. acerifolia (Acer-leaved). S. A tall-growing, thick, succulent-stemmed species, with green, lobed, serrated foliage, and large branching cymes of small white flowers; sepals of male flowers hairy; styles three, two-horned. Capsule triangular, with one of the angles prolonged into an obtuse wing.