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Begonia polygonoides; photograph Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SABjörn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Begonia polygonoides Hook.f.

Begoniaceae · Ghana, Guinea +6 · listed by its genus as a tropical foliage plant

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Begonia polygonoides Hook.f.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Hook.fil.

No habitat climate
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Begonia polygonoides, photograph Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia polygonoides, photograph Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia polygonoides, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia polygonoides, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia polygonoides, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBegonia polygonoides, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 10 photographs ›

Summary

Begonia polygonoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Begoniaceae, native to west central Africa. Though it grows primarily in wet tropical biomes, it is epiphytic and grows in the tree canopy where atmospheric conditions are much drier.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Begonia polygonoides", 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 “epiphytic subshrub or shrub”, “wet tropical”.

Nothing derived: no habitat climate for this species.
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.

Group. Listed under the genus Begonia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphytic subshrub or shrub”, “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

No habitat climate can be derived: Only 2 distinct land cells of the climate grid hold an in-range record placed to within 10 km; three are needed for an envelope. 75 of the 77 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or to no stated accuracy and fewer than three decimals or by something other than a person's observation, and cannot place a climate cell, though they count for the map and its marker.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGhana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Zaïre · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker3.8, 10.13 · in the densest population, 28 records (36% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphytic subshrub or shrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 77 georeferenced records inside the native range, all openly licensed and shown on the map. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. No climate across the range is derived for this species. 75 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 77 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Begonia polygonoides, photograph 1did not loadBegonia polygonoides, photograph 2did not loadBegonia polygonoides, photograph 3did not loadBegonia polygonoides, photograph 4did not loadBegonia polygonoides, photograph 5did not loadBegonia polygonoides, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (4).

Other Begonia 279 in the reference

Begonia abdullahpieei Begoniaceae Begonia acerifolia Begonia acerifolia Maple-leaved begonia Photo: CC BY, Yuri SofronovBegonia acetosa Begonia acetosa Ruby begonia Photo: CC0, Daderot Begonia acetosella Begoniaceae Begonia acida Begonia acida Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael WolfBegonia aconitifolia Begonia aconitifolia Aconite Leaved Begonia Photo: CC BY-SA, rubens curveloBegonia acutifolia 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

Also known as Begonia cataractarum; Begonia epilobioides; Begonia ramicola; Begonia rhipsaloides. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Begoniaceae
Described by
Hook.f.
Native to
Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast +5
Wild records
77 in range · 77 open

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 record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF's key 7597622 is Begonia polygonoides Hook.fil.; the page links Kew's Begonia polygonoides Hook.f., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21only 2 distinct land cells of the climate grid hold an in-range record placed to within 10 km; three are needed for an envelope
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21found by its label; its IPNI identifier 105468-1 is Kew's for Begonia polygonoides Hook.f.
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every 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 15 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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