In Begonia sect. Ruizopavonia, B. embera is most similar to B. harlingii L.B.Sm. & Wassh. but is distinguished by its much shorter petioles (1.5–5.6 mm vs 25–75 mm), narrower leaves (1.5–2.8 cm vs 3–6 cm) and fewer secondary veins (4–6 vs 9–13). Floral differences include the smaller outer staminate tepals (2.7–4.5 × 1.4–2.5 mm vs 5–10 × c.5 mm), female flowers with 3 bracteoles (vs 2 in B. harlingii)and shorter styles (0.7–2.1 mm vs 4–5.5 mm). – Type: Colombia, Chocó, municipio El Carmen del Atrato, vereda El Doce, carretera Medellín-Quibdó, km 150, 700 m, 6 vi 1979, G. Galeano & R. Bernal 98 (holotype COL [barcode: COL000138608], isotype HUA). Figures 2, 3.Cane-like herb, to 30 cm tall, without tubers or rhizomes. Stem 0.7–2.7 mm in diameter, unbranching or branching near to the base, reddish green, nodes thickened, internodes 4.2–26 mm long. Stipules persistent, membranous, glabrous, hyaline to light green, oblong, 4.5–12.2 mm long, margin entire, apex acuminate. Leaves distichous, c.6 per stem; petioleglabrous, 1.5–5.6 mm long; leaf blade straight to the petiole, dark green above, pale green below, hairs only on the midvein above and on the margin, slightly asymmetrical, narrowly oblong-obovate, 4.3–10 × 1.5–2.8 cm, apex acuminate, base acute, truncate, or shallowly cordate, with one side connecting to the petiole c.2 mm above the other, margin biserrate with a seta at the end of each tooth, venation pinnate, 4–6 secondary veins per side. Inflorescence: 1–3 per plant, axillary, cymose, with 3 male flowers and 1 female flower per inflorescence, protandrous; peduncle erect, reddish white, glabrous, 1.3–4 cm long; bracts persistent, hyaline, elliptic, 4–7.5 × 1.7–2.8 mm, apex acute, margin fimbriate. Staminate flowers: pedicels white, glabrous, 4.5–7 mm long; tepals spread apart, 4 in two series, white, glabrous, outer two broadly ovate, 2.7–4.5 × 1.4–2.5 mm, apex rounded, base obtuse, margin entire, inner two elliptic, 2.5–3.2 × 1–1.8 mm, base obtuse, apex rounded, margin entire; stamens 10–15, on a short torus, filaments white, glabrous, 0.2–1 mm long, anthers linear-oblong, longer than the filaments, 1.2–2 mm long, dehiscence longitudinal by lateral slits, connective projecting 0.2–0.4 mm long, with a rounded tip. Pistillate flowers: pedicels white, glabrous, 0.7–2 mm long; bracteoles 3, on the base of the ovary, subpersistent, hyaline, elliptic, 4.3–8 × 2.7–4.7 mm, margin ciliate, apex acute; ovary glabrous, body fusiform, 2.8–3.9 × 2.4–3.9 mm, wings asymmetrically triangular, with the short side distal, perpendicular to the axis, and the long side proximal and roughly at 45° to the axis, subequal or the adaxial wing slightly longer, apex obtuse, 3-locular; placentation axillary, placentas bilamellate, with ovules on both sides; tepals5, deciduous in fruit, spread apart, white, oblanceolate, 6.5–9.3 × 2.5–3.3 mm; styles3,free, 0.7–2.1 mm long, bifid, stigmatic papillae twisted. Fruiting peduncle erect above thebranches, mature fruit at c.90° to the peduncle, the body shape and wings similar to theovary, wings 6.1–8.4 mm long.Habitat and distribution. Begonia embera is endemic to the Chocó Department, in the western foothills of the Colombian Cordillera Occidental, in the transition between the Chocó and Andean biogeographical regions (Figure 4). The plants were observed growing in humid and shady places, always near or in streams, on substrate formed mainly by gabbro rocks, or on sandy soil. The plants are not grouped into dense populations, and are accompanied in the same strata of the forest mainly by species of Gesneriaceae, Piperaceae and Urticaceae