Begoniella Oliv. Trans. Linn. Soc. London

Begoniella Oliv. Trans. Linn. Soc. London View in CoL 28: 513. 1873. TYPE SPECIES: Begoniella whitei Oliv 5 Begonia oliveri L. B.Sm. & B.G.Schub.

Plant terrestrial, perennial, with upright stems. Tubers absent. Stems herbaceous. Leaves alternate, straight or transverse with respect to the petiole; stipules persistent or caducous, entire; leaf blade asymmetric, basifixed or rarely peltate ( Begonia truxillense ), venation pinnate, indumentum of simple hairs or glabrous. Inflorescences axillary, cymes, bisexual or separate male and female or rarely bisexual and male, with male flowers basal and female flowers distal, protrandrous; bracts persistent (during flowering) or caducous. Flowers with perianth segments white, pink, or red. Male flowers with 4 or rarely 2 ( B. gamolepis ) free perianth segments or segments fused in a bilabiate and short (e.g., B. kalbreyeri ) or cylindric and long tube (e.g., B. lehmanii ); filaments free or rarely fused in short axis, anthers oblong, longer than or rarely about as long as ( B. colombiana ) or shorter than the filaments ( B. umbellata ), dehiscent with laterally positioned longitudinal slits (more than 0.5 of the anther length), connective usually extended. Female flowers with or without 2 bracteoles inserted directly beneath the ovary, 4–6 perianth segments, free or fused; ovary or fruit with 3 wings, wings equal in fruit, developed into horns or rarely not ( B. trianae ), locules 3, placentation axillary, placental branches 1 or 2 per locule, styles 3, free to fused more than halfway, usually irregularly branched, or rarely not branched ( B. solaniflora ) or forked once ( Begonia trujillensis ), caducous in fruit, stigma not kidney-shaped, in a band and not spiraled or contracted near the style apex. Fruit a capsule dehiscent at the back of the carpels, more or less erect and hanging at maturity.

Distribution and Habitat —From the Cordillera de Talamanca ( Costa Rica) to central Peru, between 500 and 3200 m. Casparya species inhabit mostly humid locations in undisturbed montane forest.

Taxonomic Changes —Two taxonomic changes are proposed here based on the specimen revision performed during this work.