''Begonia eiromischa'', commonly known as woolly-stalked begonia, is a presumed extinct plant from

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It occurred at granite rocks in an altitude of 170 m in the proximity of

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

forests. ''Begonia eiromischa'' is only known from two collections made in 1886 and 1898 at

Pulau Betong Betong Island is a group of islets in Southwest Penang Island District, Penang, Malaysia, located off the western coast of Penang Island. Consisting of two uninhabited islets, Betong Island has a combined land mass of . It is situated within the ...

Penang Island Penang Island ( ms, Pulau Pinang; zh, 檳榔嶼; ta, பினாங்கு தீவு) is part of the state of Penang, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was named Prince of Wales Island when it was occupied by the British Ea ...

. Its habitat was completely destroyed as a result of agricultural alteration, especially farming and logging. Despite extensive surveys it could not be rediscovered and so it was officially declared extinct by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

in 2007.

References

*Kiew, R. 1989. Lost and found: ''Begonia eiromischa'' and ''B. rajah''. ''Nature Malaysiana'' 14: 64-67 and front cover. *Kiew, R. 2005. ''Begonias of Peninsular Malaysia''. Kota Kinabalu: Natural History Publications (Borneo). pp. 22, 35. eiromischa Endemic flora of Peninsular Malaysia Extinct plants Extinct biota of Asia Plant extinctions since 1500 {{Malaysia-stub