| Begoniaceae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Begonia hirtella | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Cucurbitales |
| Family: | Begoniaceae C.Agardh[1] |
| Genera | |
 | |
| Range of the family Begoniaceae | |
TheBegoniaceae are a family offlowering plants with about 1400-1500 species occurring in thesubtropics andtropics of both theNew World andOld World. All but one of thespecies are in thegenusBegonia. The only other genus in the family,Hillebrandia, isendemic to theHawaiian Islands and has only one species.
Manyvarieties (orcultivars) of some species andhybrids of the genusBegonia are used asornamental plants.
Most of the plants in this family areperennialherbaceous plants and very few areshrubs osubshrubs; they are from only a fewcentimetres to 3metres tall. Theirleaves andstems aresucculents,[2] that is, leaves and stems arejuicy and store water.
Stems are upright (vertical) and many species formrhizomes ortubers (fleshy, thickened underground stems). In some cases, the stems are very short and the leaves are in a group close to thesoil.[2]
Theleaves of most species are simple, undivided and with sides more or less unequal; in very few cases they are compound (divided). They are alternate or, when the stem is very short, they are all in a group.[2]
Begoniaceae plants are mostlymonoecious, so there are male and female flowers on the same plant; very few aredioecious, with only one kind of flower so the plants are either male or female. Flowers are grouped ininflorescences.[2]
Thefruits arecapsules (simple, dry fruits) and sometimesberries; they have many very smallseeds.[2][3]
Thechromosome number is variable, n=10-21 or more.[4]
The family Begoniaceae was named in 1820 as Begoniae by theBohemianscientistsFriedrich Graf von Berchtold andJan Svatopluk Presl inPrirozenosti Rostlin, 1:270, and then in 1824 as Begoniaceae by theSwedishbotanistCarl Adolph Agardh, published inAphorismi Botanici.[5]
There are twogenera in this family:
TheNew Guinean genusSymbegonia Warb. has recently been reduced to a section ofBegonia.[6]
The species of this family are found abundantly in all moist tropical countries, absent only from theAustralian tropicalforests.[8]
One species,B. grandis grows in thetemperate zone, growing as far north as nearBeijing (China).[6]
Some species,hybrids andcultivars of the genusBegonia are used worldwide asornamental plants inparks,gardens,balconies and ashouseplants because they have beautiful leaves and flowers.[4]
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