The pantropical genus Begonia L. (Begoniaceae) is the sixth largest genus of flowering plants, comprising 1950 species distributed in the tropics and subtropics of Asia, America and Africa. The number of Begonia species in China has been predicted to be between 250 and 300, but many new taxa remain to be discovered and described. 

During botanical studies in Menglian county, researchers form Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) collected blooming plants of a wild tuberous Begonia. 

After examining the type specimens and literature from China and the adjacent regions, the researchers identified it as a new species. They named it as Begonia puerensis to refer to the distribution of new species in Puer district, Yunnan province. 

The new species Begonia puerensis has been published in Nordic Journal of Botany.  

Begonia puerensis is a monoecious tuberous herb, 10–30？cm tall. It is characterized by tuberous habit, rounded anther tips, four staminate flower tepals, three pistillate flower tepals, and ovary with three unequal wings. 

It grows on mossy rock surfaces or in the cracks of rocks on semi‐shaded cliffs or steep slopes at an elevation of 1000–1850？m, flowering from September to October, fruiting from November to December. 

Currently Begonia puerensis is only known from four locations in Lancang and Menglian County, south Yunnan Province .Its geographic range is small, which is severely fragmented and with road construction and cropland expansion plausibly limiting dispersal and gene‐flow. The researchers thus assessed it as Endangered (EN) following the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. 

Contact 

SHEN Jianyong    

Department of Gardening and Horticulture, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China      

E-mail: shenjianyong@xtbg.ac.cn  

Habitat and characters of Begonia puerensis (Image by WANG Wenguang)