Begonia pearcei Hook.f.

Moonlight, Peter & Fuentes, Alfredo F., 2022, AN UPDATED CHECKLIST AND KEY TO THE SPECIES OF BOLIVIAN BEGONIA, INCLUDING ONE NEW SPECIES, Edinburgh Journal of Botany 79 (407), pp. 1-66 : 13-14

1.8. Begonia pearcei Hook.f. , Bot. Mag. 91, t. 5545 (1865). – Type: Royal Botanic Gardens

Kew, ex. Veitch & Sons Nursery, from a collection made in La Paz by Pearce, x 1865, Unknown s.n. (lectotype K [ K000252027 ] designated in: Phytotaxa 407(1): 113 (2019) by Tebbitt, M. C.) .

L.B. Smith & B.G. Schubert, Revista Univ. (Cuzco) 33(87): 78 (1944); R.C. Foster, Contr. Gray Herb. 184: 138 (1958); D.C. Wasshausen et al. in P.M. JØrgensen et al. (eds), Cat. Bolivia, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 129: 385 (2013); M.C. Tebbitt, Tuberous Begonias, a Monograph of Begonia sect. Australes 107 (2020).

Distribution. Endemic to Bolivia.

Identification notes. Begonia pearcei is distinguished as a tuberous, caulescent herb with spreading yellow tepals and a white, non-glandular indument. It is most similar to Begonia heliantha and B. chrysantha , which are both also tuberous, caulescent species with transversely ovate leaves and yellow flowers. It differs from Begonia heliantha in its non-glandular indumentum, and from B. chrysantha in its white indumentum (vs red hairs with a white apex; Tebbitt, 2020).