It's a cane, not a rex!

It's taken me quite a while to figure out that this is a cane-like begonia that would not propagate by leaf cuttings. Even after staking the plant it still didn't occurred to me.

First I went through several rounds of leaf propagation. All turned out in vain. In fact, at least two attempts are currently in perlite under plastic out on the balcony. I haven't had to heart to dismantle the contraption. Who knows, it might be the exceptional cane-like begonia that would respond to leaf cuttings.

Then, I had also been looking out online at plant images on a random basis to try identify this species, such as blogs, Facebook.

Finally I had posed the plant and taken a few shots in anticipation of posting it at Facebook Planet Begonia and possibly getting assistance from certain online experts.

And then I waited, stalled, hesitated... is it really important to know its identity?

Finally two nights ago, I came across an online reference that pointed to it being a hybrid begonia - B "Ice Castle", a cane-like begonia.

Here's the item at Stevesleaves that pointed to it being B Ice Castles. Cane begonias by their nature propagate by stem cuttings mainly. Leaf cuttings don't work as a rule and as corroborated by my own experience