A Detailed Guide to the Six Parts of the Garden Balsam

Garden balsam (Impatiens balsamina) is an annual herbaceous flowering plant in the order Sapindales, family Balsaminaceae, genus Impatiens. The whole plant is divided into six parts: root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed. Because its flower head, wings, tail and feet all curl upward like a phoenix, it is also known as the golden phoenix flower. Below, let us take a look at these six parts of the garden balsam!

Root

The garden balsam has a taproot system, whose main feature is that the primary root is noticeably thicker and longer than the lateral roots. Lateral roots grow from the primary root, giving a clear distinction between main and secondary roots. The stem bears numerous fibrous roots.

Stem

The stem of the garden balsam is stout, fleshy, erect, unbranched or branched, hairless or sparsely pubescent when young, up to 8 mm in diameter at the base, and the lower nodes are often swollen.

Leaf

The leaves of the garden balsam are alternate, sometimes opposite on the lowest part of the stem, lanceolate, narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate, 4-12 cm long and 1.5-3 cm wide, with a pointed or acuminate tip and a wedge-shaped base. The margins have sharp serrations, and there are often several pairs of stalkless black glands toward the base. Both surfaces are hairless or sparsely pubescent, with 4-7 pairs of lateral veins. The petiole is 1-3 cm long, with a shallow groove on the upper side and several pairs of stalked glands on both sides.

Flower

The flowers of the garden balsam are solitary or in clusters of 2-3 in the leaf axils, without a common peduncle, white, pink or purple, single or double. The pedicel is 2-2.5 cm long and densely pubescent, with a linear bract at its base. There are 2 lateral sepals, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-3 mm long. The lip is deeply boat-shaped, 13-19 mm long and 4-8 mm wide, pubescent, with its base abruptly tapering into an incurved spur 1-2.5 cm long. The standard petal is circular, hooded, slightly notched at the tip, with a narrow keel-like ridge on the back midrib and a small point at the apex. The wing petals have short stalks, are 23-35 mm long, and are 2-lobed; the lower lobe is small, obovate-oblong, and the upper lobe is nearly circular, with a 2-lobed tip and a small ear near the base of the outer edge. There are 5 stamens with linear filaments and ovoid anthers with blunt tips. The ovary is spindle-shaped and densely pubescent. The flowering period is July to October.

Fruit

The capsule of the garden balsam is broadly spindle-shaped, 10-20 mm long, pointed at both ends, densely pubescent, and splits open at a touch when ripe.

Seed

The garden balsam has numerous seeds, round and spherical, 1.5-3 mm in diameter, dark brown. When mature, the outer shell bursts open on its own, ejecting the seeds and self-sowing for reproduction, so seeds must be collected in time.