Oxalis. } XX. GERANIACEA, 95 
downy annual, or, in warmer climates, a perennial, with slender, spread- 
ing branches, seldom above 6 inches long. Leaves of 3 deeply obcordate 
leaflets, with small stipules at the base of the leafstalks. Peduncles 
slender, axillary, bearing an umbel of from 2 to 4, or rarely 5, pale 
yellow flowers, much smaller than in O. Acetosella. 
A common weed in all the hotter and most of the temperate regions 
of the globe. In Britain, only in a few localities in southern England, 
except where accidentally introduced into gardens. Fl. the whole season. 
A closely allied American species, the O. stricta, with a more erect stem 
and no perceptible stipules, is also an occasional garden weed. 
IV. IMPATIENS. BALSAM. 
Herbs, mostly glabrous or almost succulent, with alternate, undivided 
leaves, no stipules, and very irregular flowers. Sepals and petals all 
coloured, and consisting usually of 6 pieces, viz., 2 outer, opposite (sepals), 
flat and oblique; the next (upper sepal, although by the twisting of 
the pedicel it hangs lowest) large, hood-shaped, ending below in a 
conical spur; the fourth (lower petal, but uppermost from the twisting 
of the pedicel) much smaller, but yet very broad, and somewhat concave ; 
the 2 innermost (petals) very oblique and irregularly shaped, more or 
less divided into two unequal lobes. Stamens 5, with very short, thick 
filaments, the anthers cohering in a mass round the pistil. Ovary 5- 
celled, with several ovules in each cell. Stigmas 5, minute, sessile or 
nearly so. Capsule bursting elastically in 5 valves, which roll inwards, 
scattering the seeds. 
A numerous genus, chiefly East Indian, with a few North American 
species. 
Flowers yellow. Spur of the calyx loosely bent back, and 
entire . 1. I. Noli-me-tangere. 
Flowers orange- -brown. Spurs closely bent back “upon the 
calyx, and notched at the extremity ‘ . 2. LD. fuloa. 
Several East Indian species are eultienuea for their flowers, and 
amongst them the well-known garden Balsam (/[. Balsamina), whose 
flowers become double with great readiness. The J. parviflora, a native 
of eastern Europe and Russian Asia, has more or less established itself 
as a weed in some of the southern counties of England. It is a rather 
tall species, with many flowered peduncles, and very small flowers, with 
a very short spur. 
1. I. Noli-me-tangere, Linn. (fig. 219). Yellow B., Z'ouch-me-not.— 
An erect, glabrous, branching annual, 1 to 2 feet high; the stem rather 
succulent, and swollen at the nodes. Leaves stalked, ovate, pointed, 
toothed, of a pale green, and very flaccid. Peduncles axillary, slender, 
bearing 1 or 2 perfect flowers, which are large and showy, yellow, 
spotted with orange; the hooded sepal ending in a long spur, curved 
upwards, and bent back upon the flower. These flowers seldom set 
their seed in this country ; the pods are chiefly produced by minute, 
imperfect flowers, of which there are several on the same peduncles as 
the perfect ones. 
In moist woods and shady places, in the hilly districts of Europe and 
Russian Asia, extending northwards into Scandinavia. In Britain 
