Garden Balsam Nicknames Roundup: How Many of These Common Aliases Do You Know?

Flowers & Gardening Jan 1, 1970 0 views

Garden balsam, also known as touch-me-not, "impatient flower" and others, is a herbaceous plant in the Balsaminaceae family. Because its flower head, wings, tail and feet all curl upward like a phoenix, it is also called phoenix flower. The leaves of the garden balsam are rich and vivid in color, and are deeply loved by girls.

Garden Balsam Nicknames

Touch-me-not, impatient flower, daughter flower, phoenix flower, balsam stem

Morphological Characteristics of Garden Balsam

Annual herb, 60-100 cm tall. Stem stout, fleshy, erect, unbranched or branched, hairless or sparsely pubescent when young, up to 8 mm in diameter at the base, with numerous fibrous roots, lower nodes often swollen.

Growing Habits of Garden Balsam

Garden balsam likes sunlight and fears dampness; it tolerates heat but not cold. It prefers sunny sites and loose, fertile soil, and can also grow in relatively poor soil.

Native to China and India. Widely cultivated in gardens throughout China, it is a common ornamental flower.

Main Values of Garden Balsam

Medicinal: The roots, leaves and seeds of garden balsam are all treasures. The root is the traditional Chinese medicinal material known as balsam stem.

Food: The leaves of garden balsam can be blanched and served as a cold dish, and the seeds can be used as a seasoning for soup; both are very delicious.

Ornamental: The flowers of garden balsam are brilliantly colored, making it a very beautiful flowering ornamental plant.

Varieties of Garden Balsam

According to ancient flower records, there were more than 200 varieties of garden balsam, and many varieties have now been lost. Because garden balsam readily mutates, some good varieties have been produced through artificial cultivation and selection, such as "five-color top phoenix," whose flowers grow at the top of the stem and are large and brightly colored, as well as "ten-pattern brocade" and others. According to differences in flower shape, they can also be divided into rose type, camellia type, dianthus type and others.

Flower Language of Garden Balsam

"Don't touch me," derived from its English alias Touch me not, or Don't touch me in American English, because its seed pods will shoot out many seeds at the slightest touch.