I M P 



I M P 



The Iw o last sorts may be prcpagaied 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 drv warm border, due water and 

 shade being gi\cn; those in pots being pro- 

 tected Ijy a frame and glasses in the winter, and 

 those in the open jrround screened in severe 

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

 fectly clean. 



They mav also be increased by planting cut- 

 lings 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 lat-ter in the 

 borders, and among potted plants of the more 

 hardv kinds. 



IMMORTAL FLOWER. SeeGNAPHALiuM. 

 IMPATIENS, a genus containing plants of 

 the flowery annual kind. 



Tt belongs to the class and order St/ngetiesia 

 Monogarnia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Corydalcs. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a two- 

 leaved perianthium, very small : leaflets roiind- 

 ibh-acuniinate, 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 tritid, 

 constituting the upper lip : lower pair reflex, 

 very large, outwardly larger, obtuse, irregular, 

 constituting the lower hp : 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 oiitwardlv, ending; in a horn at the 

 base: the siaunna have five nlaments, very 

 short, narrower towards the base, incin-ved : an- 

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

 pistillum is a superior germ, ovate-acuminate : 

 style none : stigma r'.mple, siiortcrihan the an- 

 thers : the pcrlerap'iu.n is a one-celled eapt.de, 

 tive-valved, springing open elastically, the valves 

 rolling spirally : the seeds several, roundish, 

 fixed to a column ir receptacle. 



The species cultivated are: 1. I. Balsam/iia, 

 Garden i^alsam ; 2. /. Nollmetangere, Common 

 Yellow Balsam. 



Th'j first IS an annual plant, rising a foot and 



half high, and dividing into maay succulent 



branches : the leaves long and serr.ae : 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 are 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, &c. .-.iv 



There are varieties with single and double i-ed 

 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 lar^e 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 braetes, 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, w ith 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 

 light, dry, good earth, or in the mould of the 

 bed, plunging them in the former case in the 

 hot-bed ; or m 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 

 fresh hot-bed. Those in the natural ground 

 should be kept properly thinned, and be remov- 

 ed into pots, or the situations whare 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 



