The plant genus Impatiens, with over one thousand species, gets its name from its impatient method of seed dispersal. When a mature seed pod is touched the covering quickly snaps open and the seeds hurl out. Ballistochory or explosive dehiscence are two technical terms for this floral feat of going ballistic. Touch a mature seedpod and the covering rolls back and seeds are catapulted in a second.
In New England we have two native Impatiens, commonly known as jewelweed. The most common is I. capensis, with spotted orange dangling blooms along branched stems. Each flower has a rear spur filled with nectar which attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. jewelweed prefers to grow in wetlands and reaches five feet in height. Very similar in appearance but with a looser habit and yellow blooms is I. pallida.
One characteristic of the genus is succulent stalks full of thick juicy sap. This jelly from our native jewelweed has been used to reduce the itch of poison ivy, nettles, bug bites, and eczema. It’s anti-fungal properties have proved useful in treating athlete’s foot.
“Were it not one of the worst weeds gardeners have to deal with, it would be a treasured plant, for it is quite beautiful in all its parts.”—Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd
Jewelweed is an annual, dying back each year with new plants germinating in the spring from seeds. It is a prolific seeder but is easily pulled up. I leave a few plants because I consider jewelweed to be a gem of a plant.
A native to the west of North America and also parts of Eurasia is I. noli-tangere with yellow flowers similar to our jewelweed. It’s species name translates as ‘touch-me-not’, alluding to the explosive seed cases, but derived from the biblical story of the resurrection and the words spoken by Jesus to Mary Magdelene.
The most familiar member of the impatiens genus is I. walleriana, known here as impatience and in England as Busy Lizzie, a native of east Africa first introduced to the United States as a house plant in the 1960s. By the 80s it was sold as a garden plant for shady areas and it is now the most popular bedding annual sold, with single or double blooms of white, pink, or red. It’s ubiquity has led to much derision, but it is useful for adding color to brighten a shady spot.
“Many gardeners and landscape designers consider them the flower world’s equivalent of iceberg lettuce—cheap, tasteless, and way too common.”—Bert Ziggler
Impatiens balsamina, the garden or rose balsam, has been cultivated for hundreds of years. The herbalist, John Gerard grew it in 1596. Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson included it in their gardens. Native to Southeast Asia the leaves and flowers have been used to relieve snakebites, swelling, and pain and also as a hair tonic to promote growth and a natural nail coloring. The foot tall plants with blooms in shades of pink can still be found but it has been eclipsed by that Busy Lizzie, I. walleriana.
The Himalayan Mountains are home to many beautiful Impatiens species. I. glandulifera (see photos above) was introduced to Europe in 1838. This annual grows to a towering six feet in one season with pendant blooms in shades of pink. The nicknames, policeman’s helmet or Bobby top, were coined in England because of the resemblance to the headgear. Another nickname, kiss-me-on-the- mountain is a bit more romantic. In parts of Europe and North America I. glandulifera has escaped gardens and is considered invasive. I discovered a roadside patch nearby a few years ago and admire their stately grace despite their outlaw status.
I encountered a smaller plant from Kashmir, I. balfourii, growing wild in rural France. Mounds two feet tall were covered with dainty bubblegum pink and white flowers along the roadsides and in crevices of the sidewalks.
There are two Impatiens species that I long to grow. I. tinctoria is a native of the rain forests of east Africa and Mt. Kenya. It grows up to five feet tall in the moist shade with orchid-like blooms, white with maroon throats and a sweet night scent. The plant grows from a tuber which is used as a source of dye; hence the species name.
The most exciting Impatiens, and the one I lust for the most, is I. namchabarwensis, the blue diamond Impatiens. The story of its discovery adds to the allure. In 2003 two Chinese botanists, Yuan Yong-Ming and Ge Xue-Jun, descended into the Tsangpo Gorge, an area fed by the glaciers of the Himalayas and three times deeper than the Grand Canyon. On the southeast cliff side of Mt. Namcha Barwa they discovered these eighteen inch tall plants with glossy foliage and sapphire blue spurred blooms with white throats etched with yellow. It has been described as a temptress who is highly coveted. Plants and seeds are available from specialty nurseries and I plan to obtain them next year. I’m just a little impatient.
September, 2021