492 BALSAMINACEy^. [Hypogynous Exogens. 



prolonged beyond the carpellary leaves ? And then is not the conducting tissue 

 of a style in most cases an extension of the placenta ? and may we not consider the 

 indusium of Goodeniads, and, a foHiori, the well-known rim found upon the stigma in 

 Heathworts, as the expanded end of the carpellary leaves, while the stigma of those plants 

 is the upper end of the placenta \ 



Natives of damp places among bushes in the East Indies ; 1 is found in Madagascar, 

 1 in Europe, 2 in North America, and 1 in Russia in Asia. India swarms vdi\\ species, 

 all of which deserve the care of the cultivator. According to Dr. Wight, {Madras 

 Journal, January, 1837,) at least a hundred occur in those districts from wliich Rox- 

 bui'gh described only three. Forty-seven species are named by Walhch from Silhet, 

 Pundooa, Nipal, and the Peninsula, and multitudes occur in Ceylon, and the islands of 

 the Indian Archipelago. Dr. Wight states that a moist chmate and moderate tempe- 

 rature are the circumstances most favourable, if not indispensable, to their production. 

 At Coui'tallmn, for example, they most abound in shady places on the tops of hills, with 

 a mean temperature dm'ing the season of theii' greatest perfection not exceeding 70°, 

 if so much. At Shevaggery, about fifty miles north of Com-tallum, he found five out of 

 seven species on the highest tops of the mountains, none of the five mider 4000 feet, 

 and three of them above 4500 feet of elevation ; the mean temperature bemg 65° Fahr. 

 Two found at a lower elevation, were both either grooving 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°. 



The species are chiefly remarkable for the elastic force with which the valves of the 

 fruit separate at maturity, expelling the seeds. For a supposed explanation of this phe- 

 nomenon, see Dutrochet, Nouvelles Rechercnes sur VExosmose et Endosniose. According 

 to De Candolle, they are dim-etic ; it is also said that the distilled water of Impatiens 

 Nohtangere, taken in large quantity, brings on attacks of diabetes. 



GENERA. 



Impatiens, £i?i«. 



Balsamina, Gaertn. 

 Hydrocera. Blum. 



Tytonia, Don. 



Numbers. Gen. 2. Sp. 110. 



Position. — Chlseuaceae. — BALSAMiNACEiE. — Geraniaceee. 



Tropceolacece. 



