Begonia gambutensis Ardi & D.C.Thomas [§ Petermannia

Ardi, W. H. & Thomas, D. C., 2022, SYNOPSIS OF BEGONIA (BEGONIACEAE) FROM THE NORTHERN ARM OF SULAWESI AND SANGIHE ISLAND, INDONESIA, INCLUDING THREE NEW SPECIES, Edinburgh Journal of Botany 79 (405), pp. 1-50 : 18

6. Begonia gambutensis Ardi & D.C.Thomas [§ Petermannia ], Edinburgh J. Bot. 71: 260 (2014).

– Type: Indonesia, Cultivated in Bali Botanic Garden from vegetative material collected in the wild (Sulawesi, Gorontalo, Bone Bolango district , Suwawa Timur subdistrict, Gunung Gambuta , Desa Pinogu , side of river), 3 ix 2013, Thomas D.C. & Ardi W.H. 13-802 (holotype BO; isotypes E, L) .

Distribution. Indonesia: endemic to Sulawesi, Gorontalo Province (central North biogeographical region), Gunung Gambuta (see Figure 2 ).

Habitat. Primary rain forest, forest floor at the side of a river, at c. 700 m elevation.

Proposed IUCN conservation category. Data Deficient (DD). This species is known from only a single locality, in the Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park. The forests in the wider area are very poorly collected. Consequently, we assess this species as Data Deficient ( IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, 2019).

Additional specimens examined. INDONESIA. Sulawesi. Northern arm of Sulawesi. Central North Sulawesi: Gunung Gambuta (cultivated at Bali Botanic Garden from material collected in the wild), 4 iv 2009, D.C. Thomas & W.H. Ardi 09-53 ( BO, E) ; Dumoga Bone National Park , Gorontalo, 14 viii 1991, W. Milliken 364 ( K) ; Dumoga Bone National Park, Bolaang Mongondow , 30 ix 1991, W. Milliken 1137 ( E, K) .

Begonia gambutensis is a very distinct species. It can be easily differentiated from other Sulawesi species by the dense crimson hairs on vegetative parts, male inflorescences showing basal dichasial branching with well-developed internodes and distal monochasial branching, and female flowers with obovate tepals distinctly tapering towards the base ( Ardi et al., 2014).

Figures

Figure 2. Distribution maps of Begonia species occurring on the northern arm of Sulawesi. Distribution points are from georeferenced collections from major herbarium collections (B, BO, E, K, KRB, L, SING), the Begonia Resource Centre (Hughes et al., 2015–) and the Sulawesi Begonia Data Portal (Thomas et al., 2013, continuously updated).