BALSAMINACE^E BALSAM FAMILY 



Impatiens bifora, Walt. 



Yellow Impatience, Kicking-horses, 



Jewel-weed, Speckled Jewels, 



July-September Touch-me-not, Ear-jewel, 



Sling-fruit, Ear-drop, 



Snap-weed, Silver-leaf, 



Snap-dragon, Balsam, 



Kicking-colt, Ladies' Slipper. 



Impatiens: Latin for impatient, in allusion to the sudden 



bursting of the pod when touched. 

 Biflora: Latin form for two-flowered. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: damp ground, often borders of 

 thickets. 



THE PLANT: erect, two feet to four feet high; the stem 

 branched, hairless, usually ruddy. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; ovate; above hairless; below with 

 a bloom; margins coarsely toothed. 



THE FLOWERS: large, loosely hanging; irregular; sepals and 

 petals not easily distinguishable, together forming a deep 

 sack, longer than broad, and terminated by an incurved 

 spur nearly one half or fully one third the length of the 

 sack; mottled with reddish-brown or paler and without 

 spots, or with whitish spots. 



THE FRUIT: a pod. 



The Touch-me-not is a tall, somewhat unsubstantial 



and weak-looking plant with many yellow flowers that 



attract by their grace of form and beauty of colour. Its 



botanical name, Impatiens, and many of the common 



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