An international team of botanists has discovered a hitherto unknown species of begonia in Medog County in southern Tibet. It can reach a height of 3.5 meters, making it the largest species of these plants. The first photos and descriptions of this species of begonia were published by scientists in an article in the journal PhytoKeys.
"The habitat of this plant, which is currently the tallest begonia on Earth, has proved very fragmented. This suggests the need to add Begonia Gigantica to the list of vulnerable species found in southern Tibet, the researchers wrote.
Begonias are herbaceous and shrubby plants that grow in the tropics of Eurasia and the New World. In total, scientists have described more than two thousand species of these plants, some of which have become popular among gardeners and lovers of houseplants due to the ability of begonias to grow in almost complete absence of sunlight.
A group of botanists led by Tian Daike, a professor at the Shanghai Center for Plant Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (China), discovered in southern Tibet the largest species of begonia on Earth, up to 3.5 meters high, with trunk about 12 cm thick.
The plant was discovered by scientists in the Medog district while studying the forest flora of Tibet, growing on streams and mountain rivers at an altitude of 400-1400 m. During this "counting of plants" Professor Daike came across an unusually tall begonia, whose flowers he could not reach and whose stem he could grasp with the fingers of one hand.
Scientists have studied the plant in detail and concluded that it belongs to a hitherto unknown species of begonia, named Begonia Gigantica. Subsequent expeditions to the forests of Medog County have shown that the populations of this plant are extremely fragmented. That is why the plant is included in the Red Book to prevent extinction, scientists conclude.
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