Skip to main content
Log in

A Checklist with Three New Species and Two New Country Records of Begonia from Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, India

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Brittonia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A synoptical treatment of the Begonia flora of the Dibang Valley in eastern Arunachal Pradesh, India is provided, along with the descriptions of three new species. In total, eight species of Begonia are recognized as occurring in the area, of which B. atrofusca, B. lorentzonii and B. rushforthii are new to science, while B. acetosella var. hirtifolia and and B. pseudoheydei are new records for India. A phylogenetic analysis of molecular data was performed to clarify the affinities of the treated species within the genus. Three chloroplast regions (rpl32-trnL spacer, ndhA intron and ndhF-rpl32 spacer) were sequenced and used to build a maximum likelihood phylogeny revealing that the Dibang taxa belong to two main groups of B. sect. Platycentrum.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

All newly generated sequences are available from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/ and the sequence alignment from the journal’s website.

Literature cited

  • Baruah, M. K. & M. D. Choudhury. 2014. Addition to the Flora of Barak Valley of Assam, India. Pleione 8(1): 37–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borah, D., M. Taram & E. Wahlsteen. 2021a. Begonia limprichtii Irmsch. (Begoniaceae), a new record for India. Biodiversity: Research and Conservation 61: 29–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borah, D., M. Taram & E. Wahlsteen. 2021b. Begonia dicressine (Begoniaceae): a new record for India. Nature Conservation Research 6(4): 100–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camfield, R. & M. Hughes. 2018. A revision and one new species of Begonia L. (Begoniaceae, Cucurbitales) in Northeast India. European Journal of Taxonomy 396(1): 1–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chauhan, A. S. 1996. Begoniaceae. Pp. 174–176 in: Hajra, P. K. (ed.), Flora of Namdapha, Arunachal-Pradesh: Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta.

  • Chauhan, A. S. 2000. Begoniaceae. Pp. 424–429 in: Singh, N. P., A. S. Chauhan & M. S. Mondal (eds), Flora of Manipur. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, W. H., S. W. Guo, S. Radbouchoom, W. K. Dong, Z. X. Wang, H. H. Xi & Y. M. Shui. 2019. A new berry-fruited species of Begonia (Begoniaceae) from Xizang (Tibet) in China. Phytotaxa, 407(1): 29–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, C. B. 1879. Begoniaceae. Pp. 635–656 in: Hooker, J. D. (ed.), The Flora of British India, vol. 2. L. Reeve & Co., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, C. B. 1881. On Indian begonias. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 18: 114–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dash, S. S. 2010. Native species of Begonia L. (Begoniaceae) in Arunachal-Pradesh-diversity and distribution. Bulletin of Arunachal Forest Research 26: 29–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dash, S. S. & A. A. Mao. 2011. Distribution of six little known plant species from Arunachal-Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(9): 2095–2099.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deka, S., M. Borah & S. C. Kakaty. 2009. European Water 27(28): 3–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Don, D. 1825. Prodromus florae Nepalensis. J. Gale, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doorenbos, J., M. S. M. Sosef & J. J. F. E. De Wilde. 1998. The sections of Begonia including descriptions, keys and species lists (Studies in Begoniaceae VI). Wageningen Agricultural University Papers 98.

  • Grierson, A. J. C. 1991. Begoniaceae. Pp. 237–246 in: Grierson, A. J. C. & D. J. Long (eds.), Flora of Bhutan 2. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gu C. Z, C. I. Peng & N. J. Turland. 2007. Begoniaceae. In: Wu, Z. Y., P. H. Raven & D. Y. Hong (eds.), Flora of China, Vol. 13. Missouri Botanical Garden & Harvard University Herbaria, St. Louis, Missouri & Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hara, H. 1966. The Flora of Eastern Himalaya. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hara, H. 1971. The Flora of Eastern Himalaya; 2nd Report. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hara, H. & L. H. J. Williams. 1979. An Enumeration of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, vol. 2. British Museum (Natural History), London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, M. 2008. An Annotated Checklist of Southeast Asian Begonias, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, M., C. I. Peng, C. W. Lin, R. R. Rubite, P. Blanc & K. F. Chung. 2018. Chloroplast and nuclear DNA exchanges among Begonia sect. Baryandra species (Begoniaceae) from Palawan Island, Philippines, and descriptions of five new species. PloS One, 13(5), e0194877.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irmscher, E. 1959. Begoniaceenstudien. Botanische Jahrbücher fur Systematik 78: 171–194.

    Google Scholar 

  • IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second Ed. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khatun, B. M. R. 2008. Begoniaceae. In: Ahmed, Z. U. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh, vol. 7: Angiosperms: Dicotyledons: Balsaminaceae-Euphorbiaceae: 10. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Bangladesh.

  • Koch, K. 1857. Drei neue Schiefblatter oder Begonien. Berliner allgemeine Gartenzeitung 25(10): 76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch, K. 1858. Buntblättrige Schiefblätter oder Begonien mit zweifächriger Kapsel (Fortsetzung). Wochenschrift für Gärtnerei und Pflanzenkunde 1(43): 337–341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kress, J. W., R. A. DeFilipps, E. Farr & D. Y. Y Kyi. 2003. A checklist of the trees, shrubs, herbs, and climbers of Myanmar. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45: 1–590.

  • Kumar, K. D. 2002. Begoniaceae. In: Singh N. P., K. P. Singh & D. K. Singh (eds), Flora of Mizoram 1: 641–655. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, S., G. Stecher, M. Li, C. Knyaz & K. Tamura. 2018. MEGA X: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis across computing platforms. Molecular Biology and Evolution 35(6): 1547–1549.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Katoh, K., J. Rozewicki, & K.D. Yamada 2019. MAFFT online service: multiple sequence alignment, interactive sequence choice and visualization. Briefings in bioinformatics, 20(4), 1160-1166.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leong, W. C., T. Deng, H. Sun, C. I. Peng & K. F. Chung. 2015. Begonia difformis comb. & stat. nov. (sect. Platycentrum, Begoniaceae), a new species segregated from B. palmata D.Don. Phytotaxa 227: 83–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moonlight, P. W., W. H Ardi, L. A Padilla, K. F Chung, D. Fuller, D. Girmansyah, ... & M. Hughes. 2018. Dividing and conquering the fastest–growing genus: Towards a natural sectional classification of the mega–diverse genus Begonia (Begoniaceae). Taxon 67(3): 267–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, R. 2010. ‘What’s in a name?’ Begonia palmata D.Don [Platycentrum]. The Begonian 77: 138–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, R. 2011. Begonia annulata K.Koch. The Begonian 78: 58–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, R. 2012. Begonia silletensis (A.DC.) C.B.Clarke. The Begonian 79: 146–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peng, C. I. & S. M. Ku. 2009. Begonia × chungii (Begoniaceae), a new natural hybrid in Taiwan. Botanical Studies 50(2): 241–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajbhandary, S., M. Hughes, T. Phutthai, D. C. Thomas & K. K. Shrestha. 2011. Asian Begonia: out of Africa via the Himalayas. The Garden's Bulletin, Singapore 63(1, 2): 277–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saikia, P., J. Deka, S. Bharali, A. Kumar, O. P. Tripathi, L.B Singha, ... & M. L. Khan. 2017. Plant diversity patterns and conservation status of eastern Himalayan forests in Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. Forest Ecosystems 4(1): 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, J., E. B. Lickey, E. E. Schilling & R. L. Small. 2007. Comparison of whole chloroplast genome sequences to choose noncoding regions for phylogenetic studies in angiosperms: the tortoise and the hare III. American Journal of Botany 94(3): 275–288.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Taram, M., D. Borah, N. Krishna, A. K. Pradeep, A. Amrutha & M. Hughes. 2020. Begonia oyuniae (Begonia sect. Monophyllon, Begoniaceae), a remarkable new species from Northeast India. The Garden's Bulletin, Singapore 72(1): 109–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taram, M., D. Borah & M. Hughes. 2021. Begonia kekarmonyingensis (Begoniaceae), a new species from Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. Phytotaxa, 494(3): 268–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tebbitt, M. C. 2003. Taxonomy of Begonia longifolia and related species. Brittonia 55: 19–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tebbitt, M. C. & G. Kaiyun. 2002. Emended circumscription of Begonia silletensis (Begoniaceae) and description of a new subspecies from Yunnan, China. Novon 12: 133–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, D. C., M. Hughes, T. Phutthai, S. Rajbhandary, R. Rubite, W. H. Ardi & J. E. Richardson. 2011. A non-coding plastid DNA phylogeny of Asian Begonia (Begoniaceae): evidence for morphological homoplasy and sectional polyphyly. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 60(3): 428–444.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Uddin, A. & S. Phukan. 2007. Distribution and status of India Begonia species. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 31(3): 591–597.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verma, D., D. K. Roy & B. K. Sinha. 2013. Gustav Mann’s contribution to ‘ASSAM’ herbarium, Shillong, Meghalaya, India. Pleione 7(1): 175–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wahlsteen, E. 2018. Begonia mariachristinae a new species from northern Myanmar. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 75(2): 161–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wahlsteen, E. 2019. A new species of Begonia L. (Begoniaceae) and some notes on Begonia difformis from Kachin, northern Myanmar. Phytotaxa 420: 241–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, W. G., X. A. Lang, L. L.Yang, H. Wu & S. Z. Zhang. 2019. Begonia zhongyangiana, a new species of Begonia (Begoniaceae) from western China. Phytotaxa, 407(1): 51–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank two anonymous reviewers for comments improving the manuscript and the editor Benjamin Torke for patient advice and support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Wahlsteen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Appendices

Appendices

Appendix 1.

Herbarium vouchers (locality and collectors number) and GenBank accession numbers (ndhA intron; ndhF-rpl32 spacer; rpl32-trnL spacer) for sequences that were newly generated for this study.

Begonia acetosella var. hirtifolia: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, S. of Anini, 28°46′42.2”N, 95°52′24.3″E, Borah 18,028; MW476744; MW476768; MW476792. Begonia acetosella var. hirtifolia: India Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, S. of Anini, 28°46′42.2”N 95°52′24.3″E, Borah 18,031; MW476745; MW476769; MW476793. Begonia acetosella var. hirtifolia: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, S. of Anini, 28°46′42.2”N, 95°52′24.3″E, Borah s.n.; MW476746; MW476770; MW476794. Begonia annulata: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, between Anini and Hunli, Borah 18,090; MW476747; MW476771; MW476795. Begonia atrofusca: India, Arunachal, Lower Dibang District, between Hunli and Roing, Borah 18,095; MW476748; MW476772; MW476796. Begonia atrofusca: India, Arunachal, Lower Dibang District, between Hunli and Roing, Borah 18,097; MW476749 MW476773; MW476797. Begonia dicressine: Myanmar, Kachin, Putao, heading mount Madoi, 27°40′50.4”N, 97°23′32.2″E, Borah 16,089; MW476750; MW476774; MW476798. Begonia difformis: Myanmar, Kachin, Putao, heading mount Madoi, 27°44′10.2”N, 97°22′56.7″E, Borah 16,009; MW476751; MW476775; MW476799. Begonia lorentzonii: India, Arunachal, Lower Dibang District, between Hunli and Roing, Borah 18,093; MW476752; MW476776; MW476800. Begonia mariachristinae: Myanmar, Kachin, Putao, heading mount Madoi, 27°40′50.4”N, 97°23′32.2″E, Wahlsteen 16,003; MW476753, MW476777, MW476801. Begonia palmata: India, Arunachal, Lower Dibang District, between Maydia Pass and Anini, Borah 18,013; MW476754; MW476778; MW476802. Begonia palmata: Myanmar, Kachin, Putao, heading mount Madoi, Wahlsteen 16,012; MW476755; MW476779; MW476803. Begonia rushforthii: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, N. of Mipi by Mathun River 28°58′45.6”N 95°49′01.4″E, Borah 18,049; MW476756; MW476780; MW476804. Begonia rushforthii: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, N. of Mipi by Mathun River, 28°58′45.6”N, 95°49′01.4″E, Borah 18,050, MW476757; MW476781; MW476805. Begonia rushforthii: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, N. of Mipi by Mathun River. 28°58′45.6”N, 95°49′01.4″E, Borah18051; MW476758; MW476782; MW476806. Begonia silletensis: India, Arunachal, Lower Dibang District, between Mayodia Pass and Anini, Borah 18,011; MW476759; MW476783; MW476807. Begonia pseudoheydei: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, S. of Anini, Borah 18,029; MW476764; MW476788; MW476812. Begonia pseudoheydei: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, S. of Anini 28°46′42.2”N, 95°52′24.3″E, Borah 18,030; MW476765; MW476789; MW476813. Begonia pseudoheydei: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, S. of Anini 28°46′42.2”N, 95°52′24.3″E, Borah 18,032; MW476766; MW476790; MW476814. Begonia pseudoheydei: India, Arunachal, Upper Dibang District, N. of Anini, Borah 18,034; MW476767; MW476791; MW476815.

Appendix 2.

GenBank accession numbers of downloaded sequences (ndhA intron, ndhF-rpl32 spacer, rpl32-trnL spacer).

B. aborensis: MH207019, MH207428, MH207849. B. acetosella: JF756367, JF756451, JF756535. B. brandisiana: JF756379, JF756463, JF756547. B. cathcartii: MH207089, MH207499, MH207915. B. ceratocarpa: MH207090, MH207500, MH207916. B. coccinea: KP712929, KP713137, KP713275. B. decora: JF756355, JF756439, JF756523. B. diadema: MH207129, MH207539, MH207952. B. dichroa: KP712931, KP713192, KP713343. B. dux: MH207137, MH207546, MH207960. Brachiaria eminii: KP712962, KP713193, KP713311. B. flagellaris: JF756353, JF756437, JF756521. B. gigabracteata: MH207165, MH207577, MH207991. B. handelii: MH207176, MH207586, MH208002. B. hatacoa: JF756354, JF756438, JF756522. B. limprichtii: MH207223, MH207633, MH208047. B. lithophila: MH207225, MH207635, MH208049. B. longifolia: JF756368, JF756452, JF756536. B. nepalensis: MH207257, MH207669, MH208079. B. obovoidea: JF756386, JF756470, JF756554. B. palmata: JF756360, JF756444, JF756528. B. pedatifida: MH207288, MH207700, MH208105. B. picta: MH207294, MH207708, MH208112. B. roxburghii: JF756371, JF756455, JF756539. B. rubella: MH207336, MH207749, MH208148. B. sikkimensis: JF756359, JF756443, JF756527. B. silletensis: JF756370, JF756454, JF756538. B. thomsonii: MH207398, MH207818, MH208210. B. tribenensis: MH207404, MH207826, MH208217. B. versicolor: JF756358, JF756442, JF756526. Bartramidula wilsonii: MH207423, MH207844, MH208231. B. yunnanensis: MH207426, MH207847, MH208234.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wahlsteen, E., Borah, D. A Checklist with Three New Species and Two New Country Records of Begonia from Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Brittonia 74, 403–418 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12228-022-09725-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12228-022-09725-9

Keywords

Navigation