I 



Balsaminece.'] balsamine^. 55 



Oeder XXVII. BALSAMINE^. 



Flowers very irregular. Sepals and petals usually consisting of 6 or 8 

 pieces, all more or less coloured, viz. 2 outer opposite (sepals) flat and oblique, 

 usually small and less coloured ; the next (upper sepal, although by the twist- 

 ing of the pedicel it hangs lowest) large, hood-shaped, ending below in a 

 conical protuberance or spur ; the fourth (lower petal, but uppermost from the 

 twisting of the pedicel) smaller, but very broad and often bifid or emarginate, 

 the 4 innern:iost (petals) often combined into 2 bifid ones, very oblique and 

 irregular ; and very rarely there are 2 additional small outer sepals. Stamens 

 5, hypogynous, with very short thick filaments ; the anthers cohering in a mass 

 round the pistil. Ovary 5 -celled, with several ovules in each cell. Stigmas 

 5, minute, sessile or nearly so, Fruit a capsule, bursting elastically in 5 

 valves, which roll inwards, scattering the seeds. Seeds pendulous, without 

 albumen. Embryo straight, with a superior radicle. — Herbs mostly glabrous 

 and somewhat succulent, or occasionally undershrubs, or even shrubby. Leaves 

 alternate, opposite or whorled, without stipules, undivided but usually 

 toothed. 



An Order almost entirely Asiatic and chiefly tropical, with a few North American and one 

 European species, and comprising besides Impatiens itself but one genus of a single species. 



1. IMPATIENS, Linn. 



Characters those of the Order, except that the 2 additional outer sepals are 

 wanting, and the 4 inner petals are united in pairs. 

 A large genus, occupying the same area as the Order. 



1. I. chinensis, Linn.; Hook, and Thorns, in Joiirn. Linn. Soc. iv. 119. 

 A glabrous annual, usually creeping or decumbent at the base, then erect, 1 

 or 2 ft. high, often bearing at the nodes 2 or more thick stipule-like bristles. 

 Leaves sessile or nearly so, opposite, linear, acute, 2 to 4 in. long, remotely 

 serrate, glaucous underneath. Flowers pink or white, rather large, on axil- 

 lary, solitary, or clustered pedicels. Outer sepals linear ; spur long, slender, 

 and curved ; larger petal orbicular acuminate ; inner lateral ones semi-obo- 

 vate, auriculate at the base on one side. — Impatiens fasciculata. Lam. ; Wight, 

 Ic. t. 748. 



Hongkong, Harland, Hance. Common in the mountains of the Indian Peninsula, in 

 Malacca, Burmah, and Khasia. 



Order XXVIIT. OXALIDEiE. 



Flowers regular. Sepals 5, imbricate in the bud, persistent, often united 

 at the base. Petals 5, hypogynous, contorted in the bud, free or slightly 

 connate at the base. Stamens 10, hypogynous, free or united at the base, the 

 5 opposite the petals shorter than the others, or sometimes very small and 

 without anthers. Anthers versatile, the cells opening longitudinally. Ovary 

 usually on a very short stalk, 5 -angled or 5-lobed nearly to the axis, 5 -celled, 

 with 1 or more, usually several ovules in each cell. Styles 5, central, free or 

 united at the base ; stigmas terminal, entire or divided. Fruit a capsule or a 

 berry. Seeds with a fleshy albumen ; embryo straight or slightly curved. Ra- 



