YELLOW BALSAM 



two outer opposite sepals, which are flat and oblique. The upper 

 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 lobecl. 



Yellow Balsam is from I to 2 ft. high. The flowers are in bloom 

 from June to September. It is an annual reproduced by seeds. 



The flowers are often cleistogamic. In the allied /. balsanrina 

 in young 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 1 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 aquatic habitat, where it finds a peaty soil 

 mixed with alluvium. 



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

 The moths Elephant Hawk Moth (Cheerocampa Elpcnor\ Large Twin- 

 spot Carpet (Coremia quadrifasciata), Netted Carpet (Cidaria reticu- 

 lata), Lygus biriviata feed upon it. 



Impatiens, Dodonseus, from the Latin, means impatient, because 



1 It is 5-chamberecl. The partitions are thin and break away, leaving the central pillar in the 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 capsule opens, the valves roll up like a spring (as in 

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



VOL. TV 48 



YELLOW BALSAM (Impatiens iwli-mc-tangere, L.) 



