Begonia himalaica - Himalayan Begonia

Himalayan Begonia is a newly described (2025) species with male flowers 2-4 cm across, pinkish white; flower-stalk 3-4 cm, hairless; tepals 4, nearly equal; outer 2, broadly ovate to elliptic, 1.1-2.8 x 1-1.6 cm, hairless, white, with pink towards the tip. Stamens are about 100, 3-4 mm long; filaments 1-2 mm long. Female flowers are 2-3 across, asymmetric; flower-stalk 1-1.2 cm, hairless, red; tepals 5, the outer obovate to ovate elliptic to slightly round, 7-13 x 6-8 mm, the inner, ovate to obovate, 8-11 x 5-6 mm, hairless; styles 2, greenish yellow, 3-5 mm long; stigma 2, forked and slightly twisted. Ovary is 1-1.4 cm long, winged, 2-celled. It is similar to Begonia rockii in having broadly ovate leaves, hairy leaf-stalks, and bearing inflorescences directly from the rhizome, but differing in having leaves hairless above and sparsely bristly below (versus bristlyulous above and bristly below), irregular purplish red patches (versus white variegation) between the veins, 20-40 cm long leaf-stalk covered with bristly hairs (versus much shorter leaf-stalk around 3-20 cm, with villose hairs), large 2.0-2.3 cm long hairless boat-shaped bracts (versus villose ovate-oblong bracts, 0.5-0.8 cm) at the base of the inflorescence, larger staminate and pistillate (versus smaller) flowers, extended, pointed (versus flat) anther connectives, and hairless (versus rough) ovary. Himalayan Begonia is known only from East Kameng distt., Arunachal Pradesh, at altitudes of about 1000 m. Flowering: September-December.