YELLOW BALSAM 



17 



two outer opposite sepals, which are flat and nljli(]uc. The u[)i)ci" 

 sepal, owing- to the twisted pedicel (lowermost) is large, and is spurred ; 

 the lower petal (uppermost) is small, but broad and hollow. The two 

 innermost petals are irregular, oblique and irregularly lobed. 



Yellow Balsam is from i to 2 ft. higli. The flowers are in liloom 

 from June to September. It is an annual re[)roduced by seeds. 



The riowers are often cleistogamic. In the allied /. baha)iiiiia 

 in yt)ung flowers the 

 anthers lie on the still 

 closed stigmas, and in- 

 sects visiting the flower 

 are dusted with pollen 

 while they are inserting 

 their tongue in the long 

 spur. In older flowers 

 when the anthers have 

 withered the stigmas are 

 spread out, and touch the 

 same parts of the bee. 

 The flowers are showy 

 and large, but hidden 

 away. Humble bees 

 visit the flowers. 



Touch-me-not has its 

 seeds dispersed by its 

 own mechanism. The 

 capsule^ is stretched when 

 ripe, which causes it to 

 split and eject the seeds 

 on the slightest touch. 



This is a humus-loving plant, which requires a peat or humus soil, 

 being addicted to a wet atjuatic habitat, where it finds a peaty soil 

 mixed with alluvium. 



The leaves are infested by a cluster-cup fungus, Pnccinia argentata. 

 The moths Elephant Hawk Moth {Chcnvcaiiipa E/penor), Large Twin- 

 spot Carpet {Coremia quadrifasciatd). Netted Carpet {Cidaria Tcticu- 

 lata), Lvgiis biriviaia feed upon it. 



luipaliois, Dodona'us, from the Latin, means impatient, because 



' U is 5 cl)amberc(l. The |>arUlions arc thin and lire.ak away, leaving the central pillar in tlic middle. 

 In drying, the cells below the epidermis become stretched more than those below. The carpels turn some- 

 what to the right, or corkscrew-wise. When the capside opens, the valves roll up like a spring (as in 

 Meadow Vetchling), and are jerked away carrying the seeds (cf. Geraniiiin). 



Vol. IV. 48 



!■; .1.. I II Cral.trce 



Yellow Balsam {/m/tn/ir>is ntili-mc-tdn^iic, I..) 



