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Begonia picta

Common name:		Family:	Begoniaceae
Author:	Sm.	Botanical references:	51, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	E. Asia - Himalayas
Habitat:	Shady banks and rock ledges in wetter areas, to 2800 metres[51]. Plants are sometimes found at much higher elevations.
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	picta = painted
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Violales. Begonia family

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.2m. . The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland). It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Dappled Shade.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Leaves - raw or cooked. An acid flavour[2, 105, 177]. The sour tasting leaf stalks and stems are pickled[272].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Anodyne Ophthalmic Poultice Stomachic.

The juice of the plant is drunk to relieve headaches[272].
The crushed leaves are used as a poultice on sore nipples[272].
The root juice is used as an eyewash to treat conjunctivitis[272]. It is also consumed in the treatment of peptic ulcers[272].

Other Uses

Mordant.

The juice of the plant is used as a mordant to fix the colours of vegetable dyes[272].

Cultivation details

Requires a well-drained soil[200]. Plants do not require high light intensities[200]. Prefers a pH between 6 and 7[200].
A tuberous species, it is said to require greenhouse protection in Britain but plants are found at quite high elevations in the Himalayas and these provenances could be hardy in this country[K].

Propagation

Seed - surface sow in a greenhouse and keep the compost moist in a light position. The seed can be very slow to germinate, sometimes taking a year or more[134]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division
Basal cuttings from tubers in spring.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Begoniaceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[51] Polunin. O. and Stainton. A. Flowers of the Himalayas. Oxford Universtiy Press 1984
A very readable and good pocket guide (if you have a very large pocket!) to many of the wild plants in the Himalayas. Gives many examples of plant uses.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[134] Rice. G. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan. 1988
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. An interesting article on Ensete ventricosum.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Begonia+picta
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Begonia+picta

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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.