ABS Astro Branch - Website

Home Page

Note: click any picture to see an enlarged view

Heritage begonias
A detailed listing of heritage begonias is now available on this website. The list covers all cultivars hybridized from 1848 through 1982 that are mentioned in the Begonian, plus more. Click Heritage Begoinias.

Species Pictures
The species pictorial key has recently been updated with additional pictures of plants, leaves, and flowers. There are now over 500 pictures available, along with a corresponding number of small"thumbnail" size pictures. These pictures cover approximately 190 species, 30 african, 120 american, and 40 asian. The "Key" arrangement allows rapid screening, hence identification of plants. To start the Key identification process, just click Species Pictorial Key

Cultivar Pictures
An additional 80 new pictures of cultivars have been added to the site, bringing the number of cultivars pictured to approximately 485. Again, the pictures are arranged alphabetically and also in a format similar to the ABS Show Schedule. These two arrangements greatly simplify the task of identifying a particular plant. To view the cultivars, just click Cultivar pictures

Species Pictorial Key
As a major revision of this web site, pictures of all species are now contained within a "Key" structure. By using the key, the plants are organized by their physical characteristics so that identification is significantly easier. The structure of the key follows that of the Smithsonian Begoniaceae Key but is much simpler due to the smaller number of species involved. To identify your species start with the "Species Main Key" by clicking Species Main Key

Site Objectives

This web site is designed to give to the the begonia lover, a data base of important information on a large number of the newer, more popular begonia cultivars. Data has also been accumulated on a large number of species. The principal reference sources have been:

"The Begonian" for the 30+ years,from 1971 to the present.
The Smithsonian Begoniaceae, Editions 1 and 2.
Begonias, the complete reference guide, ML. & EG. Thompson.

Data Base
There has been no attempt to make the data base encompass all of the 12000+ named begonia cultivars. That task will be left to others. Similarly, there was no attempt to include all of the 1500+ recognized begonia species. That job is also being undertaken by others.

At this point in time the web site contains information on:

Over 3500 cultivars and over 1400 species, synonyms, or temporary names as found in:
--The Catalog of Registered Cultivars, Ivy McFarland.
--The Begonian for years 1971 to the present
Begonia cultivar data already available on the internet.
Limited data from the Buxton list and it's revisions.

Organization

Individual entries
Each individual entry contains the following information, when available:

Begonia name.
ABS Registration Number.
Hybridizer, or author of the name.
Horticultural type.
Cultivar parents.
Date of registration, hybridization, or name publication.
Reference source,ie.,The Begonian year, type of information, and page number .
A color photograph.

Written description

Pictures
For identification purposes, both species and cultivar pictures are arranged in "keys". These keys allow fairly easy and rapid access to photographs of similar plants, thereby simplifying identification.

Pictures are also available as sets, based on their source. Examples are private collections, National shows, etc.

References and Links
The References page lists all references used to create this site as well as links to other excellent sources of information on hybridization , cultivars, species, general begonia culture, and ongoing research.

Bluegrass Music
How about a break from the ordinary ! Go to the Bluegrass page for some good music. The music is in the "midi" format (required for web sites) and is of exceptional quality. Try it, you'll enjoy!

Exit
As you leave the site, take a moment to give me your impressions and comments.

Thanks in advance. Bill C.