厚叶秋海棠 hou ye qiu hai tang

Herbs. Rhizomes short, stout, 8-24 mm in diam. Stems erect, to ca. 60 cm tall, densely puberulous when young. Leaves cauline; stipules caducous; petiole 18-42 cm, puberulous; blade ovate or broadly ovate, asymmetric, 9-30 × 7.5-24 cm, abaxially sparsely puberulous, more densely so on veins, adaxially subglabrous, venation palmate, 6- or 7-veined, base obliquely cordate, margin remotely and indistinctly denticulate, apex caudate. Inflorescences puberulous when young; peduncle 4-12 cm; bracts rhomboid-ovate, 1.5-1.9 cm × 4-18 mm, membranous, puberulous, apex acute. Staminate flowers: pedicel 1.4-2.1 cm; tepals 4, pink, outer 2 narrowly ovate, 0.9-1.5 × 0.8-2 cm, abaxially puberulous, inner 2 oblong, 8-15 × 5-15 mm; stamens 100-160; filaments 1-6.7 mm; anthers oblong, 0.7-2.5 mm. Pistillate flowers: pedicel ca. 1.8 cm; ovary puberulous, 2-loculed; placentae axile, bilamellate; tepals 5(or 6), largest one broadly ovate, 1.1-1.6 × 1.1-1.3 cm, abaxially puberulous, smallest one elliptic, 10-16 × 7-13 mm; styles 2, 5-6.3 mm, fused at base; stigmas 2-cleft, spiraled. Capsule nodding, ellipsoid, ca. 1.5 cm, unequally 3-winged; abaxial wing ca. 1.8 × 1.2 cm, apex rounded; lateral wings smaller. Fl. Nov-Dec, fr. Dec. 2n = 22*.

● Forest understories, by streams in valleys; 600-1200 m. S Yunnan.

This species is similar to Begonia daweishanensis but can be distinguished by its short, stout rhizome and the presence of cauline leaves.