62 A GUIDE TO FLOlUCtLTtTIlE. 



1596, and even some from Italy in 1564 ; and /. Fulva, the 

 tawny flowered, is a native of this country, and may be 

 found growing about the Niagara Falls. 1. Pallida is also 

 another indigenous to this country, resembling much the 

 English variety. 



The Balsam delights in a humid and shady situation, 

 and is unquestionably the handsomest annual in cultivation. 

 The flowers are formed in a cone, the colors various. The 

 stem erect with succulent joints, from two to three feet high, 

 with numerous branches. The leaves generally ovate, ser- 

 rated, petiolate. It is observable that this variety of annuals 

 in the hottest weather assumes all freshness and beauty r , at the 

 same time while most other plants are suffering. The rea- 

 son this plant has been named Impatiens, is from the sim- 

 ple circumstance of the irritability attached to the seed pod, 

 which is formed of fine valves, and when pressed with the 

 finger and thumb spring with great elasticity, and the seed, 

 without care, is scattered some distance. The valves of 

 the seed vessel are larger in the middle, and each valve 

 contains a certain degree of fluid, the outer side, as may 

 reasonably be supposed, is more dense than the inner, and 

 on the least pressure the ends containing less fluid hold to- 

 gether rather longer, which makes the sudden action more 

 sensible in the middle than if all gave at the same time. 

 This is better illustrated by pressing the valves that have 

 not attained maturity, as the action of the movement is not 

 so sudden. 



Although this plant has been in cultivation so long its 

 character is but partially understood, for in former days the 

 Balsam was considered a tender annual, but that opinion is 

 fast dissipating ; no doubt it arose from the circumstance 



