Episode 281, part 3: iron cross begonia
On The Ledge
Jane Perrone
4.8 • 773 Ratings
🗓️ 29 November 2023
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Third on my list of top ten begonias for the average living room is the iron cross begonia, Begonia masoniana, a true showstopper of a species that has been an iconic houseplant since the 1950s when it first entered the indoor plant world thanks to a chap called Maurice Mason.
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Transcript
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| 0:29.6 | Music Hello and welcome to part three of my top 10 begonias. |
| 0:48.6 | If you haven't listened to part one and two, then do go back and plug your ears into those first because this will make |
| 0:57.0 | a whole lot more sense, but perhaps you've come here because you love begonia masoniana. I guess |
| 1:05.4 | that's fine too because this is an awesome plant and indeed the third of my begonia top 10. Why have I picked this |
| 1:14.6 | particular plant? Well, I just think this one is an iconic begonia that has been popular in the |
| 1:24.0 | UK house plant trade and in the rest of the world since about the mid-50s when this plant was first |
| 1:33.5 | introduced and that brings us to a little chat about where it comes from this plant unlike |
| 1:40.6 | yesterday's begonia which was from south, this one is from Southeast Asia. |
| 1:47.3 | So it grows in certain parts of China and Vietnam. |
| 1:52.7 | And it grows again in tropical forest understories. |
| 1:59.3 | So it grows from a fleshy underground storage organ or fleshy stem. |
| 2:06.1 | And that hopefully keeps it going if it is allowed to dry out a bit. I have to say, it's not |
| 2:12.9 | quite as bulletproof as my first choice, the eyelash begonia, begonia bowery. This one will react more |
| 2:20.8 | dramatically if it's allowed to dry out. So the name Mersoniana, you may wonder where that comes from. |
| 2:27.4 | Well, the chap who popularized this plant in the house plant world was Morris Mason. |
| 2:38.6 | And I have to say, this is one of those chaps that I would love to have met, |
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