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Magnoliopsida
Impatiens balsamina L.
EOL Text
Plants annual, 60-100 cm tall. Stem erect, robust, base ca. 8 mm in diam., succulent, simple or branched, glabrous or laxly pubescent when young, with many fibrous roots, lower nodes swollen. Leaves alternate, sometimes lowest ones opposite; petiole 1-3 cm, adaxially shallowly sulcate, both sides with few pairs of stipitate glands; leaf blade lanceolate, narrowly elliptic, or oblanceolate, 4-12 × 1.5-3 cm, with a pair of sessile black glands toward base, both surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent, lateral veins 4-7 pairs, base cuneate, margin deeply serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences 1-flowered, or 2 or 3 flowers fascicled in leaf axils, without peduncles. Pedicels 2-2.5 cm, densely pubescent, bracteate at base; bracts linear. Flowers white, pink, or purple, simple or double petalous. Lateral sepals 2, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-3 mm. Lower sepal deeply navicular, 13-19 × 4-8 mm, pubescent, abruptly narrowed into an incurved spur; spur 1-2.5 cm, slender. Upper petal orbicular, apex retuse, mucronulate, abaxial midvein narrowly carinate; lateral united petals shortly clawed, 2.3-2.5 cm, 2-lobed; basal lobes obovate-oblong, small; distal lobes suborbicular, apically retuse; auricule narrow. Stamens 5; filaments linear; anthers ovoid, apex obtuse. Ovary fusiform, densely pubescent. Capsule broadly fusiform, 1-2 cm, densely tomentose, narrowed at both ends. Seeds many, black-brown, globose, 1.5-3 mm in diam., tuberculate. Fl. Jul-Oct. 2n = 14*.
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Impatiens balsamina (garden balsam, garden jewelweed, rose balsam, touch-me-not) is a species of Impatiens native to southern Asia in India and Burma.
It is an annual plant growing to 20–75 cm tall, with a thick, but soft stem. The leaves are spirally-arranged, 2.5–9 cm long and 1–2.5 cm broad, with a deeply toothed margin. The flowers are pink, red, mauve, lilac, or white, and 2.5–5 cm diameter; they are pollinated by bees and other insects, and also by nectar-feeding birds.[1] The ripe seed capsules undergo explosive dehiscence.[2]
Medicinal use[edit]
Different parts of the plant are used as traditional remedies for disease and skin afflictions. Juice from the leaves is used to treat warts and snakebite, and the flower is applied to burns.[3] This species has been used as indigenous traditional medicine in Asia for rheumatism, fractures, and other ailments.[4] In Korean folk medicine, this impatiens species is used as a medicine called bongseonhwa dae (봉선화대) for the treatment of constipation and gastritis.[5] Chinese used the plant to treat those bitten by snakes or who ingested poisonous fish.[6] Juice from the stalk, pulverised dried stalks, and pastes from the flowers were also used to treat a variety of ailments.[6] Vietnamese wash their hair with an extract of the plant to stimulate hair growth.[6] One in vitro study found extracts of this impatiens species, especially of the seed pod, to be active against antibiotic-resistant strains of Helicobacter pylori.[4] It is also an inhibitor of 5α-reductases, enzymes that reduce testosterone levels.[7]
Chemistry[edit]
The naphthoquinones lawsone, or hennotannic acid, and lawsone methyl ether and methylene-3,3'-bilawsone are some of the active compounds in I. balsamina leaves.[8] It also contains kaempferol and several derivatives.[9]Baccharane glycosides have been found in Chinese herbal remedies made from the seeds.[10]
Ecology[edit]
It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant, and has become naturalised and invasive on several Pacific Ocean islands.[2]
Names and etymology[edit]
This section requires expansion. (August 2014) |
Common names in other languages include mírame lindo in Spanish, fèngxiānhuā (鳳仙花) in Mandarin Chinese, bóng nước or phượng tiên hoa (鳳仙花) in Vietnamese, bongseonhwa (봉선화; 鳳仙花) in Korean, hōsenka (鳳仙花) in Japanese, elepe in Hawaiian, and kamantigi in Chamorro.[2]
The Okinawan folk song "Tinsagu nu Hana" and the 1956 Korean film Touch-Me-Not (Bongseonhwa in Korean) are both named for the flower.
References[edit]
- ^ Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
- ^ a b c Impatiens balsamina. Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER).
- ^ Plants for a Future: Impatiens balsamina
- ^ a b Wang YC, Wu DC, Liao JJ, Wu CH, Li WY, Weng BC (2009). "In vitro activity of Impatiens balsamina L. against multiple antibiotic-resistant Helicobacter pylori". Am. J. Chin. Med. 37 (4): 713–22. doi:10.1142/S0192415X09007181. PMID 19655409.
- ^ Park JH, Kim JM, Do WI (2003). "Pharmacognostical studies on the folk medicine bong seon wha dae". Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy 34 (3): 193–96.
- ^ a b c Christopher Cumo. "Impatiens". Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants: From Acacia to Zinnia. Christopher Cumo, ed. ABC-CLIO, 2013. p. 523. ISBN 9781598847758
- ^ Ishiguro K, Oku H, Kato T (February 2000). "Testosterone 5α‐reductase inhibitor bisnaphthoquinone derivative from Impatiens balsamina". Phytother Res 14 (1): 54–6. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1573(200002)14:1<54::AID-PTR540>3.0.CO;2-Q. PMID 10641051.
- ^ Sakunphueak A, Panichayupakaranant P (2010). "Simultaneous determination of three naphthoquinones in the leaves of Impatiens balsamina L. by reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography". Phytochem Anal 21 (5): 444–50. doi:10.1002/pca.1216. PMID 20931623.
- ^ Hua L, Peng Z, Chia LS, Goh NK, Tan SN (February 2001). "Separation of kaempferols in Impatiens balsamina flowers by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemical detection". J Chromatogr A 909 (2): 297–303. doi:10.1016/S0021-9673(00)01102-X. PMID 11269529.
- ^ Li HJ, Yu JJ, Li P (March 2011). "Simultaneous qualification and quantification of baccharane glycosides in Impatientis Semen by HPLC–ESI-MSD and HPLC–ELSD". J Pharm Biomed Anal 54 (4): 674–80. doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2010.10.014. PMID 21075577.
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Annual, 45-60 cm tall, pubescent. Leaves lanceolate, 30-90 x 10-30 mm, serrate. Flowers white, orange, pink-red or purple, 25-30 mm long, axillary, solitary or 2(-3); pedicel up to 1-5 mm long. Lateral sepals c. 1.5 mm long, ovate, sparsely ciliate; lower sepal conical, spur 10-20 mm long, curved. Capsule broadly elliptic to fusiform, 1.2-1.4 mm long, densely tomentose, pendulous. Seeds sub-globose, minutely tuberculate.
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Surinam: balsemien.
1200-1900 m
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The flowers and leaves are often used for coloring fingernails. The stem and seeds are used medicinally for promoting blood circulation and for relieving pain and sore throats.
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"Erect annual herbs up to 60 cm tall; stems simple or branched. Leaves alternate, 2.5-9 x 0.8-2.2 cm, lanceolate-elliptic, base narrowed, margins serrate, apex acute to acuminate; petioles 1-4 cm long, glandular. Flowers solitary or 2-3 in axillary fascicles, rose or white; pedicels to 1.5 cm long. Lateral sepals 2-3 mm long, ovate; lip 1-1.6 cm long, cymbiform, petaloid; spur 1.2-2.2 cm long, incurved. Standard petal c. 1 cm long, ovate; wings c. 2 cm long, obovate, deeply notched; auricles ovate-rounded. Capsules 1-1.5 cm long, ellipsoid, tomentose. Seeds globose, tubercled."
The ‘garden balsam’ or ‘touch-me-not’ is variable in the size of the plant, pubescence and colour of the flower. There are several varieties known, e.g. the red flowered var. coccinea K.&.K. (Impatiens coccinea Wall. Cat. no. 4732).
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Habit: Herb
Balsamina hortensis Desportes (1816), not A. St.-Hilaire (1808).
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Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200013288 |