Begonia dichroa
A cane-like begonia from the lowland Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro state. It grows about 0.5–1.5 m tall and bears orange flowers. Its leaves are green, marked with silver spots when young, and wine-red underneath. Herbarium labels describe it growing on shaded, wet rocks beside rivers, so it wants warmth, high humidity, bright shade and a free-draining mix that never dries out completely.
Where it grows wild
Collectors describe it as a shade-loving rupicolous subshrub. It grows on rocks and thin leaf litter along rivers inside dense lowland rainforest (Floresta Ombrófila Densa), for example on the Rio Paraíso in the Estação Ecológica Estadual do Paraíso and at Guapiaçu near Três Picos. One label calls it semi-heliophilous on riverbank rocks, so it takes more light where the canopy opens over water.
Recorded at 17–350 m, median about 170 m. One label from the Jacarepaguá slopes gives 900 m.
🔒 Growing it like that
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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-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.