9 
IMPATIENS tricornis. 
Three-horned Balsam. 
a — 
PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. BALSAMINEA (Geraniacearum mera $). 
IMPATIENS. Linneus. 
I. ¢ricornis ; annua erecta, foliis alternis lanceolatis serratis pilosis in petio- 
lum eglandulosum longé angustatis, racemis axillaribus pilosis foliis 
multó brevioribus, sepalo dorsali oblongo subbilobo sinu cuspidato dorso 
in cornu producto, calcare acuminato incurvo, petalorum lobo altero 
rotundato altero elongato acutiusculo, fructu longo lineari. 
India swarms with species of this beautiful genus, all of 
which deserve the care of the cultivator. According to Dr. 
Wight, (Madras Journal, January, 1837,) at least a hundred 
species occur in those distriets from which Roxburgh described 
only three. Forty-seven species are named by Wallich from 
Silhet, Pundooa, Nipal, and the Peninsula, multitudes occur 
in Ceylon, and the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and 
among the four raised last year from the collections distributed 
by the East India Company, the two now figured are new; 
the others are 7. glandulifera of Royle and J. longicornu of 
Wallich, which last has been well figured lately in the Floral 
Cabinet under the name of J. picta. 
Dr. Wight, in his valuable paper above quoted, states that 
a moist climate and moderate temperature are the circum- 
stances most favourable, if not indispensable, to their pro- 
duction. 
“ At Courtallum, for example, whence I have eleven or 
twelve species, they most abound in shady places on the tops 
of the hills, with a mean temperature during the season of 
their greatest perfection not exceeding 70°, if so much. At 
Shevaggery, about fifty miles north of Courtallum, I found 
five, out of seven, species on the highest tops of the moun- 
tains ; none of the five under 4,000 feet, and three of them 
above 4,500 feet of elevation; the mean temperature, as 
deduced from twenty observations, continued through four 
days, at an elevation of 4,100 feet, being 65° of Fahrenheit’s 
scale. The two found at a lower elevation, were both either 
growing in the gravelly beds of streams, or immediately on 
their banks; the temperature of which was ascertained to 
be 65°, while that of the air at noon was only about 75°, a 
temperature, I presume, but little above that in which they 
delight on the Bengal frontiers. There is one other point, 
respecting the effect of climate on plants of this genus, to 
which I wish to call attention, as it may ultimately prove 
