Begonia fischeri Schrank, Pl. Rar. Hort. Acad. Monac.

Moonlight, Peter & Fuentes, Alfredo F., 2022, AN UPDATED CHECKLIST AND KEY TO THE SPECIES OF BOLIVIAN BEGONIA, INCLUDING ONE NEW SPECIES, Edinburgh Journal of Botany 79 (407), pp. 1-66 : 25-26

3.18. Begonia fischeri Schrank, Pl. Rar. Hort. Acad. Monac. 2, pl. 59 (1820). – Type: Brazil,

Rio de Janeiro State, C.F.P. von Martius s.n. (n.v.).

D.C. Wasshausen et al. in P.M. JØrgensen et al. (eds), Cat. Bolivia, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 129: 384 (2013); Delfini, C. in Zuloaga, F.O. & Belgrano, M.J. (eds), Fl. Argentina 17: 8 (2017).

Begonia tovarensis Klotzsch ex Klotzsch , Abh. Kon. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1854: 151 (1855).

– Begonia fischeri var. tovarensis (Klotzsch ex Klotzsch) Irmsch. nom. inval., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 74: 24 (1953). – Type : Venezuela, Hort Berlin, vi 1853, H. Wagener s.n. (lectotype B [ B100242120 ] designated in: Fl. Argentina 17: 8 (2017) by Delfini, C.).

L.B. Smith & B.G. Schubert, Revista Univ. (Cuzco) 33(87): 80 (1944); R.C. Foster, Contr. Gray Herb. 184: 138 (1958).

Distribution. Known from Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil.

Nomenclatural notes. The protologue of Begonia fischeri cites material collected by von Martius in Rio de Janeiro State. We know of two sheets of Begonia fischeri collected by von Martius. The first of these is held in Munich herbarium (M-0145727) and is a good match for the illustration in the protologue of Begonia fischeri . This sheet does not, however, have a label or determination slip that indicates it was considered Begonia fischeri by Schrank.

Its collection label also does not specify Rio de Janeiro. The label instead reads ‘ad Mandioccam’. Other collection labels made by von Martius indicate that this locality is in

Rio de Janeiro State, but it seems unlikely that Shrank would have omitted the locality ‘ad Mandioccam’ from his protologue if this was the specimen he used to describe the species. The second collection is held in New York herbarium and is a fragment of a specimen in Munich herbarium ( NY00453926 ). The label of this specimen reads ‘cerca Mandioccam , Prov. Rio Jan’ and is a therefore a slightly better match for the locality cited in the type of Begonia fischeri . The specimen is clearly Begonia fischeri , but it is an unusually large individual of the species and a relatively poor match for the individual shown in Shrank’s illustration. We have not been able to visit Munich herbarium so cannot rule out the possibility that it holds a better candidate for lectotypification than either specimen, so we refrain from designating a lectotype of Begonia fischeri .

The protologue of Begonia tovarensis cites material grown in Berlin Botanical Garden by Moschkowitz and Siegling, from seed collected by H. Wagener in Venezuela (B100242120; Klotzsch, 1855). There is a single matching sheet in Berlin herbarium, which was collected in 1953. Jacques & Mamede (2005) did not see this collection and cited it as the holotype of Begonia tovarensis . This is not correct, because no herbarium was cited in the original protologue; however, because it is the only sheet that matches the original description, we designate this sheet as the lectotype of Begonia tovarensis . In 1953, Edgar Irmscher attempted to publish a new combination of Begonia tovarensis as a variety of B. fischeri ( Irmscher, 1953) . This name is invalid because Irmscher only provided an indirect reference to the protologues of the basionym (see Article 41.5 of the Shenzhen Code; Turland et al., 2018) and the name would not otherwise be a validly published name of a new taxon (see Article 41.8d of the Shenzhen Code; Turland et al., 2018).

Identification notes. Begonia fischeri is most similar to B. cucullata Willd. These species are succulent, spreading annuals or short-lived perennials with upright stems and found in the Bolivian lowlands. They also have palmate leaf venation and more or less cucullate leaves (i.e. hood-shaped leaves, and often loosely wrapped around the stem), although some leaves are held flat in Begonia fischeri . Begonia fischeri is best distinguished by its indumentum, which varies across its range but in Bolivia is sparsely pilose throughout to densely villous on young stems, petioles, and the major veins of the leaf underside. Bolivian specimens of Begonia cucullata are glabrous throughout.