Begonia baccata Hook.f.
Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Begonia baccata Hook.f.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Hook.fil.
21 photographs › At a glance
- Jan, shaded
- Feb
- Mar, shaded
- Apr, shaded
- May, shaded
- Jun
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- Aug
- Sep
- Oct, shaded
- Nov, shaded
- Dec
Summary
Begonia baccata is a plant species of the genus Begonia in the family Begoniaceae, first described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1866. It is endemic to São Tomé Island, and grows up to 4 metres tall. It closest relative is Begonia crateris, also endemic to São Tomé.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Begonia baccata", CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the genus · Begonia
Begonia is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species, distributed primarily across tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, with Africa considered the center of origin. Some species are commonly grown indoors as ornamental houseplants in cooler climates, or cultivated outside in summertime for their bright colorful flowers, which have petals but no sepals.
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Begonia", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant, listed under the genus Begonia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial or rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”.
Seasons
The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,211 mm of 1,633 mm) falls in January, March to May and October to November. The temperature curve is flat, 2.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.
Rain
1,633 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,211 mm of it January, March to May and October to November. Wettest month November at 249 mm, driest month July at 17 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,516 mm to 1,683 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,645 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,633 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.
Light
Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 33 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 29, the highest 90th-percentile month 35).
Warmth and air
Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 21.9 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range 20.4 °C to 22.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.7 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 21.9 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, August, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell that is mostly sea and are not used.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 72 to 80% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
How this section is made
Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.
Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.
Group. Listed under the genus Begonia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “perennial or rhizomatous geophyte”, “wet tropical”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.
Climate across the habitat
Habitat months, northern hemisphere
Mean daily high from 23 °C in Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep and Oct to 26 °C in Mar and Apr; mean nightly low from 22 °C in Jul, Aug, Sep and Oct to 24 °C in Feb, Mar, Apr and May. The cold quarter, Jul to Sep, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low, centred on the 4 months in a row that tie for it. 1,633 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Nov. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 5 habitat cells. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 25 / 23–26 | 25 / 23–26 | 26 / 24–27 | 26 / 24–26 | 25 / 23–26 | 23 / 22–24 | 23 / 22–23 | 23 / 21–23 | 23 / 21–24 | 23 / 21–24 | 24 / 22–25 | 24 / 22–25 |
| Night °C | 23 / 21–24 | 24 / 22–24 | 24 / 22–25 | 24 / 22–25 | 24 / 22–24 | 23 / 21–23 | 22 / 21–23 | 22 / 20–23 | 22 / 20–23 | 22 / 20–23 | 23 / 21–23 | 23 / 21–24 |
| Rain mm | 162 / 147–173 | 137 / 124–147 | 201 / 185–207 | 196 / 185–202 | 170 / 159–173 | 35 / 33–37 | 17 / 16–17 | 23 / 21–24 | 74 / 69–76 | 233 / 214–240 | 249 / 230–257 | 136 / 125–144 |
| DLI | 30 / 29–32 | 32 / 31–34 | 32 / 31–35 | 31 / 30–34 | 30 / 29–33 | 32 / 31–33 | 32 / 31–33 | 33 / 32–34 | 32 / 32–34 | 32 / 32–33 | 31 / 30–32 | 30 / 29–31 |
| RH % | 74 / 73–77 | 73 / 72–76 | 72 / 71–75 | 73 / 71–76 | 74 / 73–77 | 72 / 71–75 | 72 / 71–76 | 74 / 73–78 | 78 / 74–80 | 80 / 75–81 | 77 / 75–80 | 75 / 74–78 |
The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 8% land: neither it nor the next candidates whose coldest month's mean nightly low is within 2 °C of the median across cells sit in a POWER cell that is mostly land, and the rule reads a cold floor only from a cell that is mostly land, so none is read for this species. Nor is the coldest month's mean nightly low taken as one: it is a mean of a month's lows, not its coldest night. What that cell gave over 44 years: absolute minimum 18.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 25.8 °C.
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) William Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Sam J. Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Clusia spiritu-sanctensis Clusiaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated
Begonia ampla Begoniaceae Photo: CC0, Ricardo Lima
Impatiens auricoma Balsaminaceae Photo: CC BY, Charlène Selva
Canavalia sericea Silky jackbean Photo: CC BY, Debra Baker
Volkameria mollis Glorybower Photo: CC BY, Zihao Wang
Melicope denhamii Rutaceae Photo: CC BY, Dominik Maximilián RamíkOther Begonia 279 in the reference
Begonia acerifolia Maple-leaved begonia Photo: CC BY, Yuri Sofronov
Begonia acetosa Ruby begonia Photo: CC0, Daderot Begonia acetosella Begoniaceae 
Begonia acida Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael Wolf
Begonia aconitifolia Aconite Leaved Begonia Photo: CC BY-SA, rubens curvelo
Begonia acutifolia Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY, Cliff from I now live in Arlington, VA… Begonia albomaculata Begoniaceae Begonia × albopicta Begoniaceae Begonia alice-clarkiae Begoniaceae Begonia almedana Begoniaceae Begonia amphioxus Begoniaceae all 280 ›Names & registers
The record
Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →
Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF's key 4930960 is Begonia baccata Hook.fil.; the page links Kew's Begonia baccata Hook.f., and the name is cited as Kew cites itgbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-21climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 0.00_6.875, lapse-corrected +459 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (8% land), so no cold floor is shownwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rulesopenalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 7 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.