Begonias are a wonderfully diverse group of plants with various growth habits, many leaf shapes, colors and sizes, and beautiful flowers and flower clusters. They are interesting to grow both indoors and outdoors.
Begonias belong to the genus Begoniaceae, named by the Franciscan monk Charles Plumier, who found fibrous begonias in Brazil in 1690, and was the first to document the discovery. The origin of begonias was commonly thought to be in Brazil, but there is evidence that some were found in Mexico at an earlier date, and the Chinese used them in the 14th century. Plumier named the plant after his favorite botanist, Michel Begon, the governor of Haiti, who recommended Plumier to King Louis XIV as an official plant collector. Plumier promised to immortalize Begon in a plant's name. Plumier passed away soon after the discovery, and no further documentation of the plant took place until the 1800s.