Begonia floribunda Carrière

Moonlight, Peter. W., Jara-Muñoz, Orlando A., Purvis, David A., Delves, Jay, Allen, Josh P. & Reynel, Carlos, 2023, The genus Begonia (Begoniaceae) in Peru, European Journal of Taxonomy 881, pp. 1-334 : 306

Begonia floribunda Carrière

Revue Horticole 47: 420 ( Carrière 1875). – Begonia fuchsioides var. floribunda (Carrière) Irmsch., Pareys Blumengartnerei , 2 nd Edition: 72 ( Irmscher 1960).

– Type: unknown.

Dorr (1999: 259).

Notes

The name B. floribunda Carrière is of unknown origin and of even less certain application. The first instance of this name we have found in the literature dates to 1844, when C. Roberts brought plants named as B. floribunda to the north Devon county show ( Anonymous 1844). A later entry in The Horticulturist cites B. floribunda as alternative names for either B. dregei or B. parvifolia , which are very different species ( Anonymous 1846: 379, 392). The name appears in several other horticultural journals in the decades before Carrière’s name was published and was probably applied to at least two species or hybrids. Irrespective, Carrière’s name does represent the first valid and legitimate description of a Begonia species by this name. It does not however include a type citation, a description sufficient for identifying the species, nor an illustration. We therefore suggest this name should be rejected. We include it in this account because Irmscher (1960) treated it as a variety of B. fuchsioides and it was treated as a synonym of B. foliosa by Dorr (1999).