crane's-bill family 



I°5 



3.* O. corniculata, a nearly glabrous erect plant with runners 

 and 2 — 8-flowered peduncles bearing yellow flowers, occurring also 

 in the west, is not indigenous. — Fl. July, August. Biennial. 



4. Impatiens (Balsam). — Succulent herbaceous plants with 

 simple leaves and monosymmetric flowers ; sepals 3, petaloid, 

 deciduous, imbricate, the posterior one forming a wide-mouthed 



IMPATIENS NOLf-TANGERE (Ba/s, 



spur ; petals 3, the anterior one broad, symmetrical, the two 

 lateral ones unequally 2-lobed ; stamens 5, with short coherent 

 filaments ; ovary 5-chambered, many-ovuled ; fruit a capsule with 

 5 elastic valves. If the capsule be touched when approaching 

 ripeness, its valves instantaneously curl into a spiral form, and 

 spring with considerable force many feet from the plant, dropping 

 the seeds by the way. Cleistogene flowers also occur. (Name 



