Greenheart Canopy Walkway

« Previous Day: Euphorbia gymnocalycioides | Main | Next Day: Gomphocarpus physocarpus »
Nov 6, 2009: Cypripedium montanum
Nov 7, 2008: Ranunculus aquatilis
Nov 7, 2007: Quercus suber
Nov 7, 2006: Pediomelum esculentum
Nov 7, 2005: Verbascum eriophorum

November 19, 2007 : Begonia prismatocarpa

Interested in subscribing? Visit the main Botany Photo of the Day page and fill out the form in the upper right corner!

Keywords: Begoniaceae | Begonia prismatocarpa Hook. | cultivated in San Francisco, California

Begonia prismatocarpa
Begonia prismatocarpa

Let's see if we can get a small series on plants of Africa going. Thanks again to Eric in SF@Flickr for sharing yet more photographs with BPotD (original 1 | original 2 | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). If you didn't visit Eric's site a few days ago when linked via the Deppea splendens entry, consider doing it now: PlantWorld. Thanks, Eric!

Eric notes that this is one of the smallest-growing Begonia species – the plant in the first photograph is 12cm (5 in.) across, to give an idea of scale.

The genus Begonia is distributed throughout most tropical areas of the world. Like Euphorbia, it is a large genus, consisting of over 1000 different species (to see the diversity of form (particularly in leaf shapes), visit this Begonia photo gallery). Begonia prismatocarpa is native to western tropical Africa, namely Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon and the Equatorial Guinean island of Bioko, where the species was first encountered by Western explorers. Online scans of herbarium specimens and associated data are available via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

The epithet prismatocarpa refers to “prism-shaped fruit”. I haven't been able to find an image of the fruit for this species, but perhaps the fruit of Burdachia prismatocarpa (illustrations m and n) will be sufficiently demonstrative of what is meant by the term.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at November 19, 2007 12:39 AM

Read recent comments on all BPotD Entries

Comments


thank you for this lovely picture
good things do come in small packages
eric has a fine web page

i enjoy the shades of yellow in flowers
some of my favorie orchids are the yellows
and greens wee ones that grow on a tiny piece
of wood
the web and this page has taught me
that are more colors then a red bottle brush
or ixora thank you to eric and daniel

Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at November 19, 2007 3:34 AM

Begonia prismatocarpa - Z10 - RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Begonia prismatocarpa - min. 10 degrees C/50 degrees F, A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Begonia, be-go-ne-a; after Michael Begon [1638-1710], a French botanist and Governor of French Canada. Plant Names Simplified, Johnson and Smith & Dictionary of Plant Names, Coombes

Posted by: Beverley at November 19, 2007 8:40 AM

Daniel - the triangular young ovary is visible in the lower image at the base of the female flowers. I have not self-pollinated my clone to see the final shape of the fruit.

Posted by: Eric in SF at November 19, 2007 8:46 AM

these are the most beautiful BOT photos i've ever seen. i love the striking contrast of the orange and yellow flowers against the green plant and black background. thank you!

Posted by: Amanda at November 19, 2007 9:15 AM

Very pretty. Beautiful photo.

Posted by: van at November 19, 2007 10:02 AM

This is really beautiful! I'd love to have one of those. Lovely pictures!

Posted by: fotrristi at November 19, 2007 11:34 AM

Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!

Post a comment




Remember Me?

(you may use HTML tags for style)

XML Feeds: Atom | RSS 2.0 | RSS 1.0 | What is RSS? | RSS Tools

Locations of visitors to this page

Creative Commons License
Botany Photo of the Day and all associated images are licensed under a Creative Commons License except when otherwise specified in the accompanying written entry.

About Botany Photo of the Day | Submit Your Photos via Flickr | Submit Your Photos via UBCBG's Discussion Forums

Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.