THE GENUS IMPATIENS. 
480 
only three. Forty-seven species are named by 
"Wallich from Sylhet, Pundooa, Nepal, and the 
Peninsula ; and a great many occur in Ceylon, 
and the islands of the Indian Archipelago, 
several of which are described by Dr. Arnott. 
For the Indian species — unquestionably the 
most beautiful and useful, a moist climate 
and moderate temperature seem to be the 
conditions most favourable to their growth 
and production in the highest state of perfec- 
tion. " At Courtallum," observes Dr. "Wight, 
" whence I have eleven or twelve species, they 
most abound in shady places, on the tops of 
the hills, with a mean temperature, during 
the season of their greatest perfection, not ex- 
ceeding 70°, if so much. At Shevaggery, about 
fifty miles north of Courtallum, I found five 
out of seven species on the highest tops of the 
mountains ; none of the five under 4,000 feet, 
and three of them above 4,500 feet of eleva- 
tion ; the mean temperature, as deduced from 
twenty observations, continued through four 
days, at an elevation of 4,100 feet, being 65° 
of Fahrenheit's scale. The two found at a 
lower elevation, were both either growing in 
the gravelly beds of streams, or immediately 
- on their banks ; the temperature of which was 
ascertained to be 65°, while that of the air at 
noon was only about 75", a temperature, I pre- 
sume, but little above that in which they delight 
on the Bengal frontiers. There is one other 
point respecting the effect of climate on plants 
of this genus to which I wish to call atten- 
tion, as it may ultimately prove useful to any 
one who may again attempt to subdivide it, 
and is, in the mean time, in a physiological 
point of view, exceedingly curious. It is that 
most of the species from the colder regions of 
the Himalayan mountains correspond with the 
European I. Noli-tangere, in the form and de- 
hiscence of their capsule (seed-vessels) ; that 
is, they split from the base, rolling the seg- 
ments towards the apex, while those of the 
warmer regions split from the apex and roll 
their segments towards their base. This dif- 
ference of habit between those of India Proper 
and the Himalayan forms, is well worthy of 
notice, as it shows that the affinity which 
exists between the flora of the latter and 
that of Europe, is stronger than between it 
and the Indian. The innate power which 
plants enjoy of selecting the soil and climate 
in different countries, however remote, most 
suitable to their perfect development, and 
which the preceding remarks have shown to 
be so eminently possessed by those of this 
order, may, when the subject has been more 
studied, and is better understood, prove of 
immense benefit to the scientific cultivator." 
Dr. Royle's observations are to the same 
effect. He says : " There is a peculiarity in 
the hill climate of India, where the modera- 
tion and equability of temperature, excess of 
moisture,, and consequent smallness of evapora- 
tion during the rainy season, has been shown 
to be favourable to the existence of tropical 
plants. At this season (the rainy season) 
the Balsams may be seen apparently un- 
changed for weeks together, with other plants 
that delight in a moist temperature, as Or- 
chidea?, Scitaminese, a few Melastomaceae, 
Cyrtandracese, Begonias, and others, of which 
the genera are considered peculiar to a tro- 
pical climate, and of so loose, moist, and cel- 
lular a texture, as would, at any other season, 
in this locality, be destroyed in a single day." 
It is recorded, as a curious fact, that some 
of the earlier flowers of many of the species 
consist of scarcely anything but the pistils. In 
some nearly related families, the Violets, and 
Oxalids, the reverse of this takes place, for the 
late flowers are devoid of petals. In all these 
cases, however, — in the Impatiens where the 
pistils are unaccompanied by sepals or petals, 
and in the Violet where the flowers have no 
petals, the plants produce perfect seeds from 
these apparently imperfect organs. 
DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF THE SPECIES OF 
IMPATIENS. 
Impatiens Noli-tangere (the Yellow 
Impatiens, or, the common Touch-me-not). — 
This is a common European species, generally 
found in shady and humid places. It is an 
erect growing annual plant, with succulent 
fleshy stems, growing two or three feet high, 
with numerous branches : the leaves are nar- 
rowish, ovate, somewhat square at the base, 
and saw edged. The flowers are produced in 
axillary clusters of three or four together, 
large, pale yellow, dotted with small red spots, 
near the centre. It has been remarked of this 
species, — and the remark doubtless applies 
more or less to all, — that the leaves, contrary to 
what is general, are expanded in the day-time, 
and become pendent or deflected at night : this 
is, when fully supplied with moisture, for when 
they lack water, they speedily droop, and are as 
speedily revived on its application. The plant 
it is affirmed is dangerously diuretic, and very 
acrid; and goats only are said to eat it. 
Impatiens fulva (the tawny-flowered 
Impatiens, or Touch-me-not). — This is consi- 
dered to be a North American species, though 
it occurs wild in England, and probably was 
not for sometime distinguished from the com- 
mon species I. Noli-tangere. It grows simi- 
lar to that species; bears ovate leaves, tapering 
to the base, with deflected glands, and small 
yellow flowers, spotted with red over the in- 
side of the petals. It is also called I. biflora. 
Among the plants which Mr. M'Nab observed 
in the vicinity of the celebrated Falls of Nia- 
gara, this species of Balsam was growing 
