About Begonia urticae L.fil.
This is a caulescent herb that can grow up to 50 cm in height. The stem is erect and branching, with internodes up to 4.5 cm long and 2 mm thick. It is succulent, ranging in color from green to red, and is tomentose. The stipules are late - deciduous, lanceolate, measuring 4 – 7 × 2 – 4 mm, with an obtuse apex, translucent, green, glabrous, and an entire, aciliate margin. There are more than 5 alternate, basifixed leaves. The petiole is 0.3 – 2 cm long, pale green to red, and can be glabrous to tomentose. The leaf blade is subsymmetric, lanceolate, up to 8 × 3 cm, membranaceous, with an acuminate apex, a dimidiate base (the large side rounded and the smaller side cuneate to rounded), an undulate, serrulate, or irregularly serrate margin, and is ciliate. The upper surface is pale to dark green, glabrous to pilose, and the lower surface is pale green to vivid red, either glabrous throughout or glabrous with densely pilose major veins. The veins are pinnate, with 5 – 10 secondary veins on the larger side and 4 – 7 on the smaller side. Each stem has 1 – 5 bisexual, axillary, pendulous - erect, cymose inflorescences with 2 branches. They can bear up to 3 staminate flowers and 2 pistillate flowers and are protandrous. The peduncle is up to 3 cm long, pale green to red, glabrous to tomentose. The bracts are deciduous, ovate to obovate, 3 – 6 × 1 – 4 mm, translucent, white to pale green, glabrous, with a rounded to truncate apex and an entire, aciliate margin. Staminate flowers have pedicels up to 12 mm long and are glabrous. They have 4 tepals that spread to reflex. The outer 2 tepals are ovate, 4 – 8 × 2.5 – 4 mm, with a rounded apex, usually pink, orange, or red (rarely white), glabrous, and an entire, aciliate margin. The inner 2 are elliptic to obovate, 5 – 8 × 2 – 4 mm, with a rounded apex, the same color as the outer tepals, glabrous, and an entire, aciliate margin. There are 6 – 10 stamens that project, with the same color as the tepals. The filaments are 0.5 – 1 mm long and free, and the anthers are ellipsoid, 1.5 – 2 × 0.1 mm, dehiscing via lateral slits with symmetrically basifixed connectives that do not extend. Pistillate flowers have pedicels up to 5 mm long, no bracteoles, and 5 subequal, deciduous tepals in fruit. The tepals spread to reflex, are ovate, 5 – 6 × 2 – 4 mm, with a rounded apex, usually pink, orange, or red (rarely white), glabrous, and an entire, aciliate margin. The ovary body is obdeltoid, 2 – 3 × 3 – 6 mm, pale green, white, pink, orange, or red, glabrous to tomentose, with equally 3 - winged, horn - shaped wings (sometimes ascending about 1.5 – 2 × 3 – 6 mm). It is 3 - locular with placentae branches divided and bearing ovules on both surfaces. There are 3 styles, the same color as the tepals, free, 2 – 5 mm long, 2 – 3 times divided, with stigmatic papillae in a spirally twisted band. The fruiting pedicel is up to 10 mm long. The fruit body is ovoid, up to 6 × 6 mm, drying light brown, with wings of the same shape as in the ovary, expanding to 12 × 6 mm, and the column at the apex of the ovary elongating to 18 mm.
