IMPATIENS, TOUCH-ME-NOT, and Balsamine; a genus of the monogamia order, belonging to the syn-genefia class of plants.
Species. 1. The noli-me-tangere, or common yellow balsamine, is a native of Britain, but is cultivated in many gardens for curiosity. It hath a fibrous root, an upright, jointed, succulent, stalk, about 18 inches high, with alternate oval leaves; and, from the axillae of the stalks, long, slender, branching footstalks, each sustaining many yellow flowers; succeeded by taper capsules, that burst open and dart forth their seeds with great velocity, whence its name. 2. The balsamina, or balsam, is a native of India. It hath a fibrous root, an upright, thick, succulent stalk, branching all around a foot and an half or two feet high; with long, spear-shaped, sawed leaves, the upper ones alternate; and from the joints of the stalk and branches clusters of short foot-stalks, each sustaining one large irregular flower, of different colours in the varieties; flowering from June or July till September.
Culture. The first species is very hardy, and will grow freely from the seeds in any common border; but the second requires artificial warmth. The seeds will indeed grow in the full ground, but rarely before the month of May; and more freely then, if covered with a hand-glass, &c. But the plants raised by artificial heat will flower five or six weeks sooner than those raised in the natural ground. The seeds ought therefore always to be sowed on a hotbed in March or April, and the plants continued therein till June, and if the frames be deep they will then be drawn up to the length of two or three feet; after which they may be
be planted in pots, which must likewise be continued in the hot-bed till the plants have taken fresh root.