花叶秋海棠 hua ye qiu hai tang

Herbs, erect, to 60 cm tall. Rhizomes poorly developed. Stems often branched, puberulous. Leaves cauline; stipules lanceolate, ca. 1 cm, abaxially villous, apex acuminate and cuspidate; petiole 3.5-9.8 cm, densely puberulous; blade abaxially pale green to red-purple, adaxially dark green with a red-purple V-shaped band, ovate to broadly ovate, asymmetric, 9-14 × 7-10.8 cm, densely puberulous, occasionally sparsely long hairy, venation palmate-pinnate, base oblique, cordate, margin denticulate, very shallowly lobed; lobes triangular, apex acute. Inflorescences puberulous; peduncle 5-6.1(-11) cm; bracts caducous, puberulous, apex acuminate. Staminate flowers: pedicel ca. 1.3 cm; tepals 4, pink or orangish, outer 2 broadly ovate, 1.7-2 × ca. 1.2 cm, outside villous, inner 2 oblong to ovate, ca. 1.4 × 5-7 mm; stamens numerous; filaments ca. 1 mm; anthers oblong-obovoid, ca. 1 mm. Pistillate flowers: pedicel ca. 1.7 cm; tepals 5, pink or orangish, subequal, oblong to broadly ovate, abaxially villous; ovary pubescent, 2-loculed; placentae axile, bilamellate; styles 2, fused at base; stigmas 2-cleft, spiraled. Capsule nodding, obovoid-oblong, 1.8-2.1 cm, unequally 3-winged; adaxial wing broadly ligulate or falcate, 1.2-1.5 × 1.2-1.8 cm, apex rounded; lateral wings smaller. Fl. Aug, fr. Sep. 2n = 20*.

Scrubby vegetation or forests, in shaded environments; 800-1500 m. S Guangxi, SE Yunnan [Vietnam].

Similar to Begonia palmata, this species differs by its short, stout rhizome, lack of leaves on the rhizome, erect stem, and very shallowly divided leaves. Either pink or orangish flowers were observed on plants of this species.