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Species library › Begonia › Begonia ferox
Begonias Partly documented

Begonia ferox

A creeping, stoloniferous begonia of section Coelocentrum, named for its fierce-looking leaves covered in tall, blackish-brown, red-tipped bullae. It is known only from one place: limestone rocks in lowland evergreen forest at about 130 m in Longzhou County, south-western Guangxi, China, where it is very rare. Grow it like other karst begonias: warm, shaded and humid, in a free-draining mix with lime.

Begonia ferox
Photo: Theplantingbooth, CC BY 4.0, 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 ShadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on rock (lithophyte)

Where it grows wild

Grows on limestone rocks with abundant leaf litter, or on bare rocky slopes, in evergreen broadleaf forest on karst. The type was collected on the forest floor, on a limestone rock surface. It creeps across the rock by stolons, rooting into litter-filled pockets.

Only known from about 130 m, in the Chunxiu Headwater Forest Nature Reserve.

China (Guangxi)

🔒 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 4.0 licence, unmodified.