Impatiens L., Sp. Pl. ed. 2: 937. 1753; Gen. Pl. 5: 403. 1754; Boiss., Fl. Or. 1: 867; 1867; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 440. 1875; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 387. 1921 (Reprint 1980); Hook. f., Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 4: 1: part 1,1904 and part 2, 1905; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 12: 43; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 1.

Annual or perennial herb. Stem erect or procumbent, succulent, usually hollow, swollen at nodes. Leaves simple, exstipulate, or with a pair of stipitate or sessile glands at base of petiole, alternate, opposite or whorled, margin serrate or nearly entire, teeth often glandular, pinnately veined. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, often showy, solitary axillary or in simple racemes, subcorymbs or subumbels. Sepals 3 (or 5), free; 2 laterals small, flat, usually greenish, the lower sepal (or 3 combined) large, petaloid, with the hollow spur produced at base, spur straight or curved. Petals 3 (or 5), free, the upper one, the STANDARD, broad and somewhat concave, small or large, often crested abaxially, the 2 laterals (each of 2 combined petals) forming the WINGS, deeply 2-lobed. Stamens 5; filaments short, thick and flattened; anthers bithecous, connate forming a ring around the pistil, dehiscence by slits or pores, stamens falling off in one piece before stigma ripens. Carpels (4-)5, syncarpous, ovary superior, oblong, (4-)5-loculed, each with (2)-many anatropous ovules; style 1, very short or absent; stigmas usually 5-toothed when mature. Capsule ovoid, club-shaped, linear or narrowly oblong, often irregularly swollen, dehiscing explosively when ripe by (4-)5 valves which separate from the seed-bearing axis and rolling up with a jerk scattering the numerous small seeds. Seeds exalbuminous, glabrous or not.

1118 species

Impatiens balsamina L., Sp. Pl. 2: 938. 1753; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 453. 1875;Hook.f., Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 4: 7. 1904; Bailey, Stand. Encycl. Hort. 3: 1642.1915; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb. 1: 514. 1901(Reprint1958); Fl. China @ eFloras.org 12: 58; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 3.

Annual herbs, 40-60 cm tall. Stem erect, 8-10 mm in diameter at base, succulent, simple or branched, mostly glabrous, lower nodes swollen. Leaves simple, alternate, sometimes opposite below, exstipulate but sometimes with a pair of glands at the base of petiole; petiole 8-10 mm long, adaxially shallowly sulcate, non-glandular; leaf blade lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 4-10 cm x 1.5-2.5 cm, apex acuminate, margin deeply serrate, teeth often glandular, base cuneate, pinnately veined, lateral veins 4-7 pairs, both surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, showy, ca. 2.7 cm x 3.2 cm, solitary or in fascicles of 2- 3, in leaf axils, peduncle absent; bracts linear, 1-2 mm long; pedicels 2-2.5 cm long, densely pubescent. Sepals 3, free; 2 lateral sepals small, concave, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm long, greenish; lower sepal deeply navicular, 1.5-1.8 cm x 0.8-1.1 cm, petaloid, light purple, pubescent, abruptly narrowed into an incurved spur, spur 1.7-2 cm long, slender, puberulent. Petals white, pink or purple, single or double. In single corolla, upper petal, the STANDARD, ca. 1.8 cm x 2.8 cm, nearly orbicular, with ca. 7 mm long claw, apex emarginate, with a green abaxial crest; 2 laterals united petals, the WINGS, ca. 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm, deeply 2-lobed; basal lobes obovate-oblong, small; distal lobes suborbicular, apically emarginate; auricule narrow. Stamens 5; filaments linear, white; anthers ovoid with obtuse apex, connate into a ring surrounding pistil, anthers 2-celled, opening by longitudinal slits; all stamens together fall off as a unit. Carpels 5, syncarpous; ovary superior, 5-loculed, ovules many per locule, pubescent; style very short; stigmas 5-toothed. Capsule broadly elliptic to fusiform, 1.2-1.4 cm long, densely tomentose, pendulous, dehiscing explosively by 5 valves which separate from the seed-bearing axis and rolling up with a jerk scattering the numerous small seeds. Seeds globose, 1.5-3 mm in diameter, tuberculate.

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