习水秋海棠 xi shui qiu hai tang

Herbs, deciduous. Tubers globose, ca. 1.5 cm in diam. Leaves 1 or 2 basal, with 1 or 2 smaller leaves on inflorescence; stipules caducous, 3.6-6.7 × 5.7-8.9 mm, margin denticulate, apex acute; petiole 9-14 cm, glabrous; blade purple abaxially, broadly ovate, slightly asymmetric, 11-16 × 8-10 cm; glabrous, venation palmate, 7-veined, base slightly oblique, shallowly cordate, margin very shallowly denticulate, shallowly lobed on upper half, divided to 1/3 of leaf length; lobes 3 or 4, apex acuminate or acute. Inflorescences terminal, 6-32 cm tall, glabrous; bracts caducous, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-4 × 1-2 mm, membranous. Staminate flowers: pedicel ca. 0.5 mm; tepals 2, broadly ovate, 6-11 × 6-12 mm; stamens 11-16; filaments fused at base, 1.3-2.5 mm; anthers obovoid or subglobose, 0.8-1.1 mm, apex emarginate. Pistillate flowers: pedicel 1.5-3.1 cm; tepals 2, suborbicular, 7-10 × 6-12 mm; ovary glabrous, 3-loculed; placentae axile, bilamellate; styles 3, ca. 3.1 mm, fused at base; stigmas U-shaped. Capsule pendulous, unequally 3-winged; abaxial wing triangular, ca. 8 × 16 mm; lateral wings smaller, ca. 5 mm. Fl. May.

● Forests, on shaded moist rocky slopes; 700-800 m. Guizhou (Xishui).

This species is similar to Begonia summoglabra but differs by its herbaceous, shallowly lobed leaves.