The Begoniaceae of Colombia

Abstract

There has been no systematic treatment covering the Begornia-ceae fo Colombia since A. De Candolle's world-monograph in the Pro-dromus in 1864, so it was to be expected that subsequent collections would yield some novelties. However, after studying the Begoniaceae of Argentina, Peru, Bolivia ("H) and Guatemala in detail, we were quite unprepared for the rich development of the family in Colom-bia, where a third of the species proved to be new and well over half of them endemic. Undoubtedly these results are attributable to the complex mountain system and we can expect many more novelties as collectors go to new valleys and river-basins. In fact an analysis of the distribution of species by the twenty-three Departments and territories of Colcmbia shows that only twelve Departments are re-presented by the twenty new species and four are not represented at all. In most cases when we say Begoniaceae it is equivalent to Bego-. nia alone, since outside of that we have only the Colombian Bego-niella and' Ecuadorian Semibeqoniella in the New World. Begoniella consists of a mere three species and a variety and SemibegonieZla is of very doubtful value, being probably nothing more than aberrant plants of Begonia section Casparya. The characters on which sectional and specific distinctions may be based in the genus Begonia are many, their range of development