| Classification |
| Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order Type: Eudicots-Rosids I
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Begoniaceae
Family Common Name: Begonia Family
Genera: Begonia |
Defining Features: This monoecious
plant first produces staminate flowers on its inflorescence and later on
the carpellate flowers.
Defining Morphology: Floral
Features: Flowers are unisexual and often actinomorphic. Plants are monoecious.
Inflorescences are determinate, axillary in cyme. Ovaries are often inferior
with axile placentation. Fruit and Seed Features: Dicotyledon. Fruit a
loculicidal capsule or occasionally a berry. Fruit is often winged. Seeds
are minute, having lid and lack albumen. Vegetative Features: Habit as
herbs, sometimes shrub-like, mostly more or less succulent. Some species
are rhizomatous or tuberous. Leaves alternate, usually oblique at base
and stipuled. Stems have swollen nodes.
Distribution: Mostly are in
moist shaded understory habitats of tropics and subtropics of both hemispheres
except Australia.
Economic Use: As cultivated
garden and indoor ornamentals.
Number of Genera Globally:
2
Number of Species Globally:
920
