Wild Begonia growing in the Western Ghats hills, Kas Plateau

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• published: 28 Sep 2012
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Begonia is a perennial herb and genus in the flowering plant family Begoniaceae. The only other members of the family Begoniaceae are Hillebrandia, a genus with a single species in the Hawaiian Islands, and the genus Symbegonia which more recently was included in Begonia. "Begonia" is the common name as well as the generic name for all members of the genus. The genus name, coined by Charles Plumier, a French patron of botany, honors Michel Bégon, a former governor of the French colony of Haiti. It was adopted by Carl Linnaeus. As a member of the order Curcurbitales, begonias are relatively closely related to such food crops as pumpkins / squash, gourds, cucumbers, and melons. With around 1,500 species, Begonia is the sixth largest angiosperm genus. The species are terrestrial (sometimes epiphytic) herbs or undershrubs and occur in subtropical and tropical moist climates, in South and Central America, Africa and southern Asia. Terrestrial species in the wild are commonly upright-stemmed, rhizomatous, or tuberous. The plants are monoecious, with unisexual male and female flowers occurring separately on the same plant, the male containing numerous stamens, the female having a large inferior ovary and two to four branched or twisted stigmas. In most species the fruit is a winged capsule containing numerous minute seeds, although baccate fruits are also known. The leaves, which are often large and variously marked or variegated, are usually asymmetric (unequal-sided). Kas/Kaas Plateau is a lateritic soil plateau on the ridge of North Western Ghats of India located to the west of Satara, Maharashtra. Kas plateau has only a shallow upper layer soil in scattered depressions and composed of exposed porous soft rock. The plateau is filled with small rivulets and ponds. The origin of its name 'Kaas' is still unclear yet this was once home to 'kaasa' plants Elaeocarpus. Probably the place got its name from the 'Kaasa' plant. Kas Plateau is recently recognised by UNESCO as a world natural heritage site. The flora on Kas plateau consists of herbaceous plants many of them being ephemerals dotted with clumps of shrubs, memecylon being the dominant species. The floral extravaganza at Kas begins with the advent of North West monsoon. The spectacle of Kas flowers has been unfolding each year after surviving through annual grazing and burning, yet Kas is threatened by the insurgence of thousands of visitors thronging the plateau on peak flowering days. Satara is a city located in the Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. The town is 2320 ft. above sea-level, near the confluence of the Krishna and its tributary river Venna. The city was the capital of the Maratha empire in the 17th century, hence one of the historical cities of Maharashtra. This city is the capital of Satara Tehsil, as well as Satara District. Source: Wikipedia This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang (at) gmail.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.