Impatiens balsamina L.

Impatiens species are annual, perennial or suffruticose herbs, terrestrial or sometimes epiphytic. Stems erect or procumbent, woody, herbaceous, succulent, stoloniferous or monoliform, usually rooting at lower nodes. Leaves radical or cauline, opposite, alternate, whorled or verticellate, variable, lanceolate-oblong to ovate-elliptic, base cuneate to obtuse, margins entire to crenate-dentate, apex obtuse to acuminate, petiolate or subsessile, exstipulate, sometimes with stipular gland at the base of petiole. Inflorescence resupinate, axillary subumbellate, racemes, fascicled or solitary. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, pedicellate, bracts persistent or caducous, sepals 3 or rarely 5, imbricate, 2 lateral ones flat, small, linear lanceolate-ovate, usually green, posterior sepal (Lip) large, petaloid, bag-shaped, navicular or saccate or spurred, petals 5, free, red, scarlet, purple, greenish or white, upper standard petal, flat, keeled or cucullate, entire or crested, usually lobed, lateral ones (wings or alae), fused in pairs, entire or lobed, sometimes with slender appendage at the base, Stamens 5, alternating with petals, free or fused towards the apex, connate or sub-connate, somewhat like a ring surrounding the style and stigma, filaments broad and short, anthers bi-locular. Ovary 5 locular, superior, oblong-ovoid, ovules many, 1 seriate in each cell, style 1, very short or absent, stigma 5 celled, sessile. Fruit indehiscent, capsule, often asymmetrical, swollen in the middle, loculicidally dehiscing by 5 valves, springing away elastically from axis, glabrous or hairy. Seed flattened or oval, smooth or tuberculate, glabrous or hairy, albumen absent.

Succulent herb

Flowering class: Dicot Habit: Herb

Fl.& Fr.: July – August

Flowering and fruiting: March-October

Impatiens species flowers are complete, bisexual, i.e., with functional male (androecium) and female (gynoecium), including stamens, carpels and ovary. Pollination is entomophilous i.e., by insects, or cleistogamy i.e., by self or allogamy i.e., by cross pollination. Flowering/Fruiting: March—October.

Seeds

Seeds primarily dispersed by autochory i.e., self dispersal, may be later by zoochory i.e., dispersal by birds or animals, anthropochory i.e., dispersal by humans.

Annual herbs, about 50-90 cm tall. Stems erect, reddish or green, succulent, simple or branched, sparsely pubescent when young or glabrous, rootstock fibrous. Leaves alternate, variable lanceolate-elliptic to oblanceolate, about 3-16 x 1-3.5 cm across, base cuneate or attenuate, margins serrate, deccuring into a glandular petiole, apex acuminate, lateral veins about 4-8 on either side of the midrib, green above and paler beneath, sparsely or densely pubescent above and beneath, petiole slightly canaliculated above and with few stipitate glands, about 1-3 cm long, exstipulate. Inflorescence resupinate, axillary, solitary or 2-3 flowered in fascicles in the upper parts of the plant, usually glabrous. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, pink, yellow, blue, purple, mauve or white, pedicel slender, glabrous or pubescent, about 1-2 cm long, bracts linear, sepals 3, imbricate, 2 lateral ones flat, small, lanceolate-ovate, apex apiculate, about 2-3 mm long, posterior sepal (Lip) large, petaloid, obovate, cymbiform, apex mucronate, about 1.2-1.8 mm long, spurred, spur filiform, curved inwards, about 1.5-3.5 cm long, petals 5, upper standard petal, keeled or cucullate, orbicular-obcordate, crested terminating into a mucro, bilobed, apex shallow emarginated, about 1.2 cm long, lateral ones (wings or alae), fused in pairs, obovate, lateral lobe rounded, terminal lobe very large, showy, sessile, curved upwards, about 2-2.5 cm long, dorsal auricle ovate, apex rounded. Stamens 5, alternating with petals, free or fused towards the apex, filaments linear, anthers bi-locular. Ovary 5 locular, superior, oblong-ovoid, ovules many, 1 seriate in each cell, style 1, very short or absent, stigma 5 celled, sessile. Fruit indehiscent, capsule, narrow fusiform or ellipsoid, about 1.5-2 cm long, swollen in the middle, loculicidally dehiscing by 5 valves, springing away elastically from axis, tomentose with whitish hairs. Seeds many, globose or oval, about 1.5-3 mm across, blackish brown, shining, granular or glabrous, albumen absent.

Leaves 5-20´1.5-4 cm, linear, lanceolate , acuminate, serrate; petioles 5-10 mm, glandular. Flowers in 2-4 flowered fascicles, 2.5-4.0 cm across, rosey; bracts caducous. Spurs slender, incurved. Capsules 1.5-2.5 cm across, ellipsoid, narrowed at both ends, densely tomentose or wooly.

Impatiens species are susceptible to various insect pests, virus and fungi, affecting leaves, fruits and roots.

Notes: Grasslands and banks of streams

Widely cultivated in gardens, Native to Europe, Central, South and Southeast Asia, also found in thicklets.

Cliffs

Grasslands

Common

Not evaluated (IUCN).

Threats recoded

It is found growing wild in the tropical forest

Widely cultivated in gardens as ornamental.