5.22. Begonia andina Rusby, Bull. New York Bot. Gard. 8: 108 (1912).

– Type: Bolivia, [La Paz Department], Santa Barbara, [14°44′S, 68°37′W], 5000 ft, 30 viii 1902, R.S. Williams 1566 (lectotype NY [NY00112290] designated in: Revista Univ. (Cuzco) 33(87): 81 (1944) by Smith, L.B. & Schubert, B.G.; isolectotypes BM [BM001191441], K [K000322980], US [US00115238]).

L.B. Smith & B.G. Schubert, Revista Univ. (Cuzco) 33(87): 81 (1944); L.J. Dorr, Brittonia 43(4): 223 (1991); D.C. Wasshausen et al. in P.M. JØrgensen et al. (eds), Cat. Bolivia, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 127: 383 (2013).

Distribution. Endemic to Bolivia and La Paz Department.

Nomenclatural notes. The protologue of Begonia andina Rusby cited the collection R.S. Williams 1566 but did not mention a herbarium (Rusby, 1912). Smith & Schubert (1944a) cited the type as in New York herbarium, which is an effective lectotypification of the name. The protologue also cited a collection made by Richard Spruce in Chimborazo Province, Ecuador, in June 1860 as the same species. The only sheet we know of that matches this description is a collection of Begonia holtonis A.DC., which is a superficially similar but distantly related species (Moonlight et al., 2018).

Identification notes. Begonia andina is an easy species to determine on account of the densely tomentose-stellate indumentum on its stems, petioles, and the underside of its leaves, which is unique among Bolivian Begonia species.