Begonia sect. Eupetalum (Lindl.) A.DC.

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 : 146

Begonia sect. Eupetalum (Lindl.) A.DC.

Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 15 (1): 280 ( de Candolle 1864). – Eupetalum Lindl., A natural system of botany, 2 nd ed.: 440 ( Lindley 1836).

– Type: holotype: Eupetalum petalodes Lindl. = Begonia geraniifolia Hook.

Synonymy notes

For a full list of sectional synonyms, see Moonlight et al. (2018).

Notes

Most geophytic Peruvian begonias are members of this section, which is distributed from Argentina to Colombia. The circumscription of B. sect. Eupetalum was significantly reduced by Moonlight et al. (2018) to include mostly acaulescent species with multifid styles and an unusually high number of tepals on both the staminate and pistillate flowers. Their circumscription also included three species that are either caulescent ( B. geranifolia and B. neoharlingii ), have bifid styles ( B. weberbaueri ), or only have four and five tepals on their staminate and pistillate flowers, respectively (all three species). Moonlight et al. (2020) added a fourth misfit to the section, B. joshii , which also has bifid styles.

The current circumscription of B. sect. Eupetalum includes fifteen species, of which ten are found in Peru and six are endemic. Our account includes an expanded circumscription of B. neoharlingii , which is newly recorded from Peru.