Abstract
BackgroundThe flora of Myanmar is under-collected compared with all other tropical Asian countries. An unknown Begonia was grown from seeds collected from a limestone hill in Central Myanmar, and compared with potentially allied species.ResultsThe unknown Begonia is rhizomatous, has peltate leaves, 2-locular ovaries, and is evergreen. It is clearly assignable to sect. Platycentrum. Only two other species of Begonia, B. josephii and B. subperfoliata, in Myanmar have peltate leaves, but they are deciduous tuberous plants with 3-locular ovaries and belong to sect. Diploclinium.ConclusionsThorough studies of literature and herbarium materials support the recognition of a new species, Begonia wui-senioris, which is fully described and illustrated. Begonia wui-senioris has the lowest chromosome number (2n = 14) for the genus.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1999-3110-55-13) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The flora of Myanmar is under-collected compared with all other tropical Asian countries
Upon consulting herbarium materials from major herbaria, both domestic and abroad, the plants were found not to belong to any species known from Myanmar
Zhengyi Wu, renowned botanist of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This unpublished taxon was excluded from the current checklist for Myanmar (Hughes 2008)
Summary
The unknown Begonia is rhizomatous, has peltate leaves, 2-locular ovaries, and is evergreen. Two other species of Begonia, B. josephii and B. subperfoliata, in Myanmar have peltate leaves, but they are deciduous tuberous plants with 3-locular ovaries and belong to sect.
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