Begonia sect. Casparya (Klotzsch) Warb.

Moonlight, Peter. W., Jara-Muñoz, Orlando A., Purvis, David A., Delves, Jay, Allen, Josh P. & Reynel, Carlos, 2023, The genus Begonia (Begoniaceae) in Peru, European Journal of Taxonomy 881, pp. 1-334 : 50

Begonia sect. Casparya (Klotzsch) Warb.

Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien 3(6a): 146 ( Warburg 1894). – Casparya Klotzsch, Bericht über die zur Bekanntmachung geeigneten Verhandlungen der Königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1854: 127 ( Klotzsch 1854). – Begonia subg. Casparya (Klotzsch) C.B.Clarke , Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 18: 116 ( Clarke 1881).

– Type: lectotype: Casparya coccinea Klotzsch = Begonia urticae L.f., designated by Doorenbos et al. (1998: 80).

Type material

Based on Casparya Klotzsch.

Synonymy notes

For a full list of sectional synonyms, see Moonlight et al. (2018) and Jara-Muñoz et al. (2019).

Notes

This is one of the most easily recognisable sections of Begonia in the Americas, comprising caulescent species with highly distinctive 3-horned fruits that dehisce dorsally rather than laterally as in most begonias. This character was also shared with B. sect. Semibegoniella (C.DC.) F.A.Barkley & Baranov , whose species differed in their fused tepals, but this section was recently brought into synonymy with B. sect. Casparya based upon evidence from molecular phylogenies ( Jara-Muñoz et al. 2019). Begonia sect. Casparya is most diverse in the northern Andes of Ecuador and Colombia. We recognise three species from Peru including one new species and two endemics.