I M P 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



I M P 



at about four inches' distance each way : observing to shade 

 them from the sun till they have taken new root ; after which ; 

 they should have a large share of free air admitted in favour- j 

 able weather, to prevent them from drawing up tall and weak. 

 They will require to be often refreshed with water, but it 

 should be sparingly given, as their stems are succulent and 

 apt to rot. When the plants are grown so large as to touch 

 each other, they should be carefully taken up with balls of 

 earth to their roots, and each planted in a separate pot filled 

 with light fresh earth, and plunged into a very moderate hot- 

 bed under a deep frame, to admit the plants to grow, shading 

 them from the sun until they have taken fresh root. They 

 should then have a large share of air admitted to them daily, 

 to harden them by degrees so as to bear the open air, into 

 which some of them may be removed in July. They must be 

 placed in a warm situation, where, if the season proves favour- 

 able, they will flower, and make a fine appearance. It will 

 be proper, however, to reserve a part under a glass-case or 

 deep frame, in order to obtain good seeds ; for those abroad 

 will not ripen their seed unless the summer turn out very 

 warm. The plants thus sheltered will daily require a large 

 portion of free air, to prevent them from becoming sickly : 

 and they must not be too much exposed to the mid-day sun 

 in very hot weather, for that makes their leaves flag, and 

 makes the plants themselves require more water than is whole- 

 some for them ; therefore shade them three or four hours 

 in the middle of the day, and they will retain their beauty 

 longer. Those who are curious to preserve these plants in 

 perfection, pull off all the single and plain-coloured flowers 

 from those which they preserve for seeding, leaving those 

 only which are double and have good colours ; and they may 

 thus be continued without degenerating in the least. The 

 species are, 



* With one-flowered Peduncles. 



1. Impatiens Chinensis ; Chinese Balsam. Peduncles one- 

 flowered, solitary; leaves opposite, ovate ; nectaries bowed. 

 Flowers red purple. This is an annual plant, a foot high, 

 upright, round, alternately branched, red. Native of China. 



2. Impatiens Latifolia; Broad-leaved Balsam, Peduncles 

 one-flowered, solitary ; leaves ovate ; serratures lanceolate ; 

 nectaries longer than the flower. The spur is awl-shaped, 

 almost the length of the peduncle. Annual. Native of the 

 East Indies. 



3. Impatiens Rosmarinifolia; Rosemary-leaved Balsam. 

 Peduncles one-flowered, solitary ; leaves opposite, linear. 

 Nectary larger than the petals. Native of Ceylon. 



4. InspaUens Capensis. Peduncles one-flowered, solitary; 

 leaves ovate; notches piliferous. Native of the Cape. 



5. Impatiens Bifida. Peduncles one-flowered, solitary; 

 leaves oblong, serrate ; nectaries very long, bifid. Native of 

 the Cape. 



6. Impatiens Oppositifolia; Opposite-leaved Balsam. Pedun- 

 cles one-flowered, aggregate; leaves opposite, linear. This 

 is an upright plant, with a succulent jointed stem ; flowers 

 small, with a nectary much shorter than the petals. Native 

 of Ceylon. Annual. 



7. Impatiens Cornuta; Horned Balsam. Peduncles one- 

 flowered, aggregate ; leaves lanceolate ; nectaries longer than 

 the flower, which are purple or white; spur three times as 

 long as the petals, somewhat bowed. The Ceylonese call it 

 kudaelu-kola, or Swallow-leaf. It is not only a native of 

 Ceylon, but of Cochin-china ; where the inhabitants use a 

 decoction of the leaves to wash their head and hair, to which 

 this plant, which is a common weed in their gardens, -gives a 

 very sweet odour. 



8. Impatiens Balsamina; Garden Balsam. Peduncles 



one-flowered, aggregate ; leaves lanceolate, the upper ones 

 alternate ; nectaries shorter than the flower, which comes out 

 from the joints of the stem. This plant in its wild state is 

 about two feet high, with an upright, round, hispid, juicy, 

 white stem, and ascending branches. Flowers red or white, 

 coloured. This plant enlarges very much by culture, and 

 becomes very branching. " I have seen," says Professor Mar- 

 tyn, " the stems seven inches in circuit, and all the parts large 

 in proportion, branched from top to bottom, loaded with its 

 party-coloured flowers, and thus forming a most beautiful 

 bush." The varieties which cultivation has produced in this 

 elegant flower are numerous ; such as white, purple, red, 

 striped, and variegated of these different colours, single and 

 double of each. Mr. Miller particularly mentions two varie- 

 ties, which may perhaps belong to some of the other species. 

 First, the Immortal Eagle, a most beautiful plant, from the 

 East Indies ; the flowers double, much larger than those of 

 the common sort, scarlet and white, or purple and white ; 

 and as the flowers are abundant, the plant is very valuable. 

 Secondly, the Cockspur, from the West Indies ; which has 

 single flowers as large as the other, but never moie than half 

 double, and only with red and white stripes. This is apt to 

 grow to a very large size before it flowers, which is very late 

 in autumn, so that in bad seasons there will be scarcely any 

 flowers, and the seeds seldom ripen. Native of the East 

 Indies, China, Cochin-china, and Japan, where the natives 

 use the prepared juice for dyeing their nails red. The com- 

 mon single sort will spring in the open ground ; and where 

 the seeds scatter they will come up in the spring. But such 

 self-sown plants do not come to flower so early as those 

 which are raised upon a hot-bed, although they will continue 

 later in the autumn; but to have good flowers, the plant 

 must be raised upon a hot-bed. Gerarde directs the seeds 

 to be sown at the beginning of April in a bed of horse-dung, 

 and replanted abroad from the said bed into the hottest and 

 most fertile place of the garden, when they have got three 

 leaves apiece. 



9. Impatiens Mutilia; Mutilated Balsam. Peduncles 

 one-flowered ; leaves lanceolate, serrate, opposite ; nectaries 

 mutilated. Stem annual, a foot and a half high, upright, 

 round, with ascending branches; flowers scarlet, on one- 

 flowered subsolitary peduncles. Cultivated in Cochin-china, 

 probably from China. 



10. Impatiens Cochleata ; Spiral Balsam. Peduncles one- 

 flowered ; leaves oblong, subserrate, opposite ; nectaries spi- 

 ral ; root creeping. Stem annual, a foot high, upright, jointed, 

 red, almost without branches; flowers scarlet, very hand- 

 some, but not sweet ; capsule fleshy. Cultivated in China. 



* With many-flowered Peduncles. 



11. Impatiens Triflora; Three-flowered Balsam. Peduncles 

 three-flowered, solitary ; leaves narrow, lanceolate. Stem 

 upright, jointed; flowers large, with the horn of the nectary 

 blunt, curved inwards, thick, scarcely the length of the flower. 

 Native of Ceylon, and according to Mr. Miller, of many 

 parts of India. He says, the flowers being smaller than the 

 common sort, are not wortii cultivating for their beauty ; but 

 Burman asserts, that they are large and very elegant. 



12. Impa-tiens Noli Tangere; Common Yellow Balsam. 

 Peduncles many-flowered, solitary; leaves ovate; joints of 

 the stem swelling. Root annual; stem a foot high, upright, 

 and, like the brandies, of a pale yellowish green, smooth and 

 shining, somewhat transparent, thickest at the joints, succu- 

 lent and brittle ; flowers yellow, the lateral petals spotted 

 with red, by cultivation changing to pale yellow or purplish ; 

 seeds large, angular, striated. The elasticity of the seed, 

 which when ripe are thrown out with considerable force upon 



