I M P 



I M P 



• The two last sorts may be propagated by seeds 

 and cuttings. 



The former should be sown in the spring, as 

 about April, in pots, or on a bed of light earth. 

 When the plants have attained some growth, 

 they should be taken up carefully with earth 

 about their roots, and placed, some in pots, and 

 the others in a dry warm border, due water and 

 shade being given; those in pots being pro- 

 tected by a frame and glasses in the winter, and 

 those in the open ground screened in severe 

 frosts, by mats or other means, and kept per- 

 fectly clean. 



They may also be increased by planting cut- 

 tings of the branches, in the summer months, 

 as about June, in pots or a shady border. When 

 they have taken good root, they may be removed 

 to the places where they are to grow, or into other 

 pots, moist weather being chosen for the purpose. 

 The first sort affords variety in the stove or 

 green-house collections ; and the latter in the 

 borders, and among potted plants of the more 

 hardy kinds. 



IMMORTAL FLOWER. SeeGNAPHALiuM. 

 IMPATIENS, a genus containing plants of 

 the flowery annual kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Syngenesia 

 Monogamia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Corydales. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a two- 

 leaved perianthium, very small : leaflets round- 

 ish-acuminate, equal, placed towards the sides 

 of the flower, coloured, deciduous : the corolla is 

 five-petalled,ringent: petals unequal; of which the 

 ■superior is roundish, flat, upright, slightly trifid, 

 constituting the upper lip: lower pair reflex, 

 very large, outwardly larger, obtuse, irregular, 

 constituting the lower lip : intermediate pair 

 opposite, rising from the base of the upper pe- 

 tal: nectary one-leafed, receiving in the manner 

 of a hood 'the base of the flower, oblique at the 

 mouth, rising outwardly, ending in a horn at the 

 base: the stamina have five filaments, very 

 short, narrower towards the base, incurved : an- 

 thers as many, connate, divided at the base : the 

 pistillum is a superior germ, ovate-acuminate : 

 style none : stigma simple, shorter than the an- 

 thers : the pericarpium is a one-celled capsule, 

 five-valved, springing open elastic-ally, the valves 

 rolling spirally: the seeds several, roundish, 

 fixed to a columnir receptacle. 



The species cultivated are : 1. 1. Balsamina, 

 Garden Balsam ; 2. 1. Noli me tangere, Common 

 Yellow Balsam. 



The first is an annual plant, rising a foot and 



half high, and dividing into many succulent 



branches : the leaves long and serrate : the 



flowers come out from the joints of the stem, 



1 



upon slender peduncles about an inch long, each 

 sustaining a single flower ; but there arc two, 

 three, or four of these peduncles arising from 

 the same joint : the flowers red or white. It is 

 much increased in size by cultivation ; and is a 

 native of the East Indies, Sec. 



There are varieties with single and double red 

 flowers, with single and double scarlet flowers, 

 with single and double white flowers, with single 

 and double purple flowers, with variegated single 

 and double flowers, with large double varie- 

 gated scarlet and white flowers, with large double 

 variegated purple and white flowers, with double 

 red and purple flowers, and with large double 

 bizarre flowers. 



The second species has an annual root : the 

 stem a foot high, upright : stem and branches 

 pale yellowish green, smooth and shining, 

 somewhat transparent, thickest at the joints, 

 succulent and brittle : the branches sometimes 

 opposite: the lower leaves ovate, uppermost 

 elliptical or lanceolate, irregularly serrate, all 

 smooth, petioled : the upper part of the stem 

 flexuose, forming an obtuse angle opposite to 

 each leaf: some of the branchings of the pe- 

 duncles have bractes, and some not : the flowers 

 yellow ; the lateral petals spotted with red, by 

 cultivation changing to pale yellow or purplish; 

 these are blunt, slightly two-lobed, with an oval 

 appendix at the base, about an inch in length, 

 and above half an inch in breadth. It is a na- 

 tive of Europe. 



When the seeds are ripe, upon touching the 

 capsule they are thrown out with force ; hence 

 the name. 



Culture. — These beautiful plants are all capa- 

 ble of being increased by sowing the well-ri- 

 pened seeds of the best varieties annually, in 

 the spring, in the first sort, in pots filled with 

 lio-ht, dry, good earth, or in the mould of the 

 bed, plunging them in the former case in the 

 hot-bed; or \n the natural ground, in the bor- 

 ders, in a warm dry situation, covering them 

 with glasses"; but the two former are the best 

 methods. When the plants are up, they must 

 have air admitted freely every day when fine, 

 and occasional moderate waterings. After they 

 have attained a few inches in growth, they 

 should be carefully removed into separate pots, 

 with balls of earth to their roots, being re- 

 plunged in the hot-bed, or be pricked out on a 

 freshT hot-bed. Those in the natural ground 

 should be kept properly thinned, and be remov- 

 ed into pots, or the situations where they are to 

 flower, about the end of June, with balls of 

 earth, as in the others. 



It is a practice with some to remove those in 

 pots and on hot-beds a second time in about a 



