19. BALSAMINACE.E. 269 



Estimate of provinces 3. Estimate of counties 6. 



Latitude 52 — 55. Local type of distribution. 



Agrarian region. Midagrarian zone. 



Descends ? Ascends ? (No great altitude). 



Range of mean annual temperature about 48 — 46. 



Native ? Sylvestral. Whether and where this species 

 is native in Britain, are two queries which scarcely admit 

 of satisfactory answer. That several of its recorded loca- 

 lities have originated from gardens there can be no doubt ; 

 while others have so much of nature about their aspect, 

 that various good authorities look upon the plant as truly 

 a native. The three provinces which are excepted from 

 the enclosures in the line of ' area,' have strong testimony 

 in support. Thus, for North Wales, we have Mr. J. E. 

 Bowman describing a locality thus: "road-side, below a 

 high wooded glen, a little west of Arthog Hall, south of 

 the estuary of the Maw-ddach, and several fields adjoin- 

 ing, undoubtedly wild." For the province of Mersey, we 

 may quote Dr. J. B. Wood, thus : " Bamford Wood, near 

 Heywood, in great abundance, and undoubtedly wild." 

 And for the province of the Lakes, we find two other bo- 

 tanists of celebrity bearing witness in favourable, though 

 less positive, terms. Mr. G. S. Gibson says : " Near Stock 

 Gill Force, abundantly, apparently wild, though it is difii- 

 cult to tell when plants so easily propagated may have 

 been introduced. It grows on the steep sides of the Gill, 

 both above and below the path near the mill." (Phytol. 

 ii. 375). And Mr. W. Borrer writes : " I can scarcely 

 doubt that Impatiens Noli-me-tangere is truly indigenous 

 in Westmoreland. It is not confined to Stock Gill, but 

 far up the Scandale Beck, and separated from Stock Gill 

 by the ridge running down Snaka Moss, and in various 

 places by Winandermere, into which lake the waters of both 



