瓜叶秋海棠 gua ye qiu hai tang

Herbs, rhizomatous. Rhizomes 8-11 mm in diam. Stems ca. 4 cm, glabrous. Leaves all basal; stipules caducous, lanceolate, ca. 1.2 cm, membranous, glabrous; petiole 22-26 cm, glabrous; blade orbicular, nearly symmetric, 14-16.2 × 14-16 cm, subleathery, both surfaces subglabrous, venation palmate, 3- or 4-veined, base shallowly cordate to obtuse, margin remotely and minutely serrulate, divided to 1/2 of leaf length or more, 3- or 4-lobed; lobes oblong or somewhat ovate, apex acuminate to caudate. Inflorescences to 27 cm tall, subglabrous; bracts caducous. Staminate flowers: pedicel ca. 1.5 cm; tepals 4, white, glabrous, outer 2 narrowly ovate or triangular-ovate, ca. 2.5 × 1.3 cm, inner 2 oblong, ca. 15 × 5 mm, apex acute. Pistillate flowers not seen. Capsule nodding, ellipsoid, ca. 17 × 8 mm, glabrous, 2-loculed, unequally 3-winged; abaxial wing ovate-oblong, ca. 1.7 × 1.4 cm, apex rounded; lateral wings lunate, 5-7 mm; placentae axile, bilamellate. Fl. Aug, fr. Aug. 2n = 44*.

● Forests, on rocks, in moist environments in valleys; ca. 400 m. Yunnan (Hekou).

This species is similar to Begonia paucilobata but differs by its 3- or 4-lobed leaves.