Begonia acutifolia

Holly-leaf begonia

The holly-leaf begonia is a Caribbean species native to Jamaica and Cuba and naturalised on Saint Helena. In Jamaica it grows on moist, steep, rocky slopes, road banks and walls in the Blue Mountains, mostly at about 650–1,300 m. It likes bright shade, mild temperatures and moist but well-drained roots, and is grown both indoors and outdoors in frost-free gardens.

Begonia acutifolia — Photo: Cliff from I now live in Arlington, VA (Outside Washington DC), USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At home, aim for

Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry

Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

No rest periodGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

A terrestrial begonia of moist, steep, rocky slopes, often on metamorphic rock, and of shaded road embankments, forest clearings, walls, field edges and hedges in the Jamaican mountains. It also grows in the mountains of central and eastern Cuba.

Specimens range from about 400 to 1,600 m, for example 650 m near Hardware Gap, 1,080–1,206 m around Newcastle and about 1,280 m at Whitfield Hall in the Blue Mountains.

JamaicaCubaSaint Helena (introduced)

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates

✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it

✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light

✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it

✓ Substrate and airflow

✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 2.0 licence, unmodified.