Begonia humilis var. porteriana (Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall.) A.DC.

Moonlight, Peter. W., Jara-Muñoz, Orlando A., Purvis, David A., Delves, Jay, Allen, Josh P. & Reynel, Carlos, 2023, The genus Begonia (Begoniaceae) in Peru, European Journal of Taxonomy 881, pp. 1-334 : 305

Begonia humilis var. porteriana (Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall.) A.DC.

Flora Brasiliensis 4 (1): 344 ( de Candolle 1861). – Begonia porteriana Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall., Index Seminum, quae Hortus Botanicus Imperialis Petropolitanus pro Mutua Commutatione Offert. Accedunt Animadversiones Botanicae Nonnullae 8: 51 ( Fischer et al. 1842).

– Type: unknown.

Klotzsch (1855: 156); Walpers (1858: 881); de Candolle (1864: 298).

Notes

The protologue B. porteriana Fisch., C.A.Mey. & Avé-Lall. cites living material grown from seeds sent from Pará State, Brazil by Sir Robert Ker Porter ( Fischer et al. 1842: 51), the Scottish botanist, diplomat, and historical painter to Tsar Alexander the 1 st of Russia. Porter was British counsel to Venezuela for fifteen years from 1826 but we know of no evidence he travelled to Pará in Brazil, but this seems likely. Fischer’s specimens are held in Saint Petersburg herbarium (LE) and there is a specimen in the de Candolle herbarium (G-DC) that was grown in Saint Petersburg by Fischer. This specimen is however labelled as “ Begonia humilis ” and might not have fallen under Fischer’s concept of B. porteriana . We have not been able to undertake a full search of Saint Petersburg herbarium so cannot rule out the possibility of there being original material of this name present. Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle (1861: 344) treated B. porteriana as a variety of B. humilis ( de Candolle 1861: 344) . We treat this taxon as an excluded name.