9 



IMPATIENS tric6rnis. 

 Three-Jiorned Balsam. 



PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 

 Nat. ord. Balsam I NE.E (Geraiiiacearum mera §). 

 IMPATIENS. Linnceus. 



I. tricornis; annua erecta, foliis alternis lanceolatis serratis pilosis in petio- 

 lum eglandulosum longe angustatis, racetnis axillaribus pilosis foliis 

 multo brevioribus, sepalo dorsali oblongo subbilobo sinu cuspidato dorso 

 in cornu producto, calcare acuminato incurvo, petalorum lobo altero 

 rotundato altero elongate 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 districts 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 /. glandulifera of Royle and /. longicornu of 

 Wallich, which last has been well figured lately in the Floral 

 Cabinet under the name of /. 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 tv*'entv 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 Q5\ 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 



