''Impatiens balsamina'', commonly known as balsam, garden balsam, rose balsam, touch-me-not or spotted snapweed, is a species of plant native to India and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. It is an

annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. The length of growing seasons and period in which they take place vary according to geographical ...

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, purple,

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

, or white, and 2.5–5 cm diameter; they are pollinated by bees and other insects, and also by nectar-feeding birds.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan . The ripe seed capsules undergo

explosive dehiscence Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...

.''Impatiens balsamina''.
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER).

Human use

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 A snakebite is an injury caused by the bite of a snake, especially a venomous snake. A common sign of a bite from a venomous snake is the presence of two puncture wounds from the animal's fangs. Sometimes venom injection from the bite may occu ...

, and the flower is applied to burns.Plants for a Future
''Impatiens balsamina''
/ref> This species has been used as indigenous traditional medicine in Asia for

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

, fractures, and other ailments. In Korean folk medicine, this impatiens species is used as a medicine called ''bongseonhwa dae'' (봉선화대) for the treatment of

constipation Constipation is a bowel dysfunction that makes bowel movements infrequent or hard to pass. The stool is often hard and dry. Other symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, and feeling as if one has not completely passed the bowel movement ...

and

gastritis Gastritis is inflammation of the lining of the stomach. It may occur as a short episode or may be of a long duration. There may be no symptoms but, when symptoms are present, the most common is upper abdominal pain (see dyspepsia). Other possi ...

. Chinese people used the plant to treat those bitten by snakes or who ingested poisonous fish.Christopher Cumo
"Impatiens".
''Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants: From Acacia to Zinnia''. Christopher Cumo, ed. ABC-CLIO, 2013. p. 523. Juice from the stalk, pulverised dried stalks, and pastes from the flowers were also used to treat a variety of ailments. Vietnamese wash their hair with an extract of the plant to stimulate hair growth. One ''

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...

'' study found extracts of this impatiens species, especially of the seed pod, to be active against antibiotic-resistant strains of ''

Helicobacter pylori ''Helicobacter pylori'', previously known as ''Campylobacter pylori'', is a gram-negative, microaerophilic, spiral (helical) bacterium usually found in the stomach. Its helical shape (from which the genus name, helicobacter, derives) is though ...

''. It is also an inhibitor of 5α-reductases, enzymes that converts

testosterone Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondar ...

to dihydrotestosterone (active form of testosterone), thus reducing action of testosterone in our body. In Nepal, the balsam leaves are crushed to dye fingernails on the day of Shrawan Sakranti (Shrawan 1). The day is also observed as Luto Faalne Deen (Go Away-Itch Day). Similarly, in China and Korea, the flowers are crushed and mixed with

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , where is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium or a ...

to produce an orange dye that can be used to dye fingernails. Unlike common

nail varnish Nail polish (also known as nail varnish or nail enamel) is a lacquer that can be applied to the human fingernail or toenails to decorate and protect the nail plates. The formula has been revised repeatedly to enhance its decorative properties ...

, the dye is semi-permanent, requiring dyed nails to grow off over time in order to remove any traces of color.

Chemistry

The naphthoquinones

lawsone Lawsone (2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), also known as hennotannic acid, is a red-orange dye present in the leaves of the henna plant (''Lawsonia inermis''), for which it is named, as well as in the flower of water hyacinth (''Eichhornia crassipes ...

, or hennotannic acid, and

lawsone methyl ether Lawsone (2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), also known as hennotannic acid, is a red-orange dye present in the leaves of the henna plant (''Lawsonia inermis''), for which it is named, as well as in the flower of water hyacinth (''Eichhornia crassipes ...

and methylene-3,3'-bilawsone are some of the active compounds in ''I. balsamina'' leaves. It also contains

kaempferol Kaempferol (3,4′,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone) is a natural flavonol, a type of flavonoid, found in a variety of plants and plant-derived foods including kale, beans, tea, spinach, and broccoli. Kaempferol is a yellow crystalline solid with a meltin ...

and several derivatives. Baccharane

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

s have been found in Chinese herbal remedies made from the seeds.

Ecology

It is widely cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

, and has become

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

and invasive on several Pacific Ocean islands.

In popular culture

The Japanese

vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to b ...

song ''Housenka'' (鳳仙花, which translates to ''Impatiens Balsamina'') describes a person who doesn't fit in with a

social group In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties ...

despite wanting to. In the music video, the singer laments this fate and compares herself to the plant. She references its "touch-me-not" nickname and the

Hedgehog's Dilemma The hedgehog's dilemma, or sometimes the porcupine dilemma, is a metaphor about the challenges of human intimacy. It describes a situation in which a group of hedgehogs seek to move close to one another to share heat during cold weather. They mus ...

-esque explosive dehiscence of its seeds by saying:

"Don't touch me," the balsam ays fallen silent. And yet it can't leave seeds unless it breaks from its shell.

Gallery

File:Balsam (Impatiens balsamina) plant in West Bengal, India.jpg, Balsam plant in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, India. File:Impatiens balsamina bd.jpg, Impatiens balsamina grown in Bangladesh. File:Impatiens balsamina 2019-07-23 Beechview 05.jpg, Balsam (Impatiens balsamina) blooming in a garden in the Beechview neighborhood of Pittsburgh File:Impatiens balsamina var. balsamina (6155470489).jpg, Impatiens balsamina File:Balsam (Impatiens balsamina).jpg, Balsam File:Коломенское 15.jpg, Balsamic touch-me-not in Kolomenskoye park File:Impatiens balsamina var. balsamina (2748898911).jpg, Impatiens balsamina File:Impatiens balsamina (2).JPG, Phoenix, nail tree File:Balsam (Impatiens balsamina) 3.jpg, Impatiens balsamina File:Impatiens balsamina Blackberry Trifle 0zz.jpg, Location taken: Brookside Gardens, Maryland. File:Impatiens balsamina Peppermint Stick 0zz.jpg, Location taken: Brookside Gardens, Maryland File:Balsamina Impatiens.jpg, Impatiens balsamina File:Seeds of Impatiens balsamina.jpg, Seeds of Impatiens balsamina File:Impatiens balsamina saplings.jpg, Saplings of Impatiens balsamina. The

cotyledon A cotyledon (; ; ; , gen. (), ) is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant, and is defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." The numb ...

s are visible. File:Hoa móng tay.jpg

References

External links

Jewelweeds.
Drugs.com {{commons category balsamina Flora of Myanmar Flora of India (region) Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus