''Impatiens hawkeri'', the New Guinea impatiens, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Balsaminaceae The Balsaminaceae (commonly known as the balsam family) are a family of dicotyledonous plants, comprising two genera: '' Impatiens'', which consists of over 1000 species, and ''Hydrocera'', consisting of 1 species. The flowering plants may be an ...

. It is native to

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. It has been bred and hybridized in cultivation to produce a line of garden plants.

Cultivation

It was first collected in the

Territory of Papua The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the a ...

in 1884 and soon became popular as a greenhouse plant. After its discovery, fifteen other similar New Guinea taxa were collected, all of which were later determined to be forms of ''I. hawkeri''. Plants with a great variety of flower and leaf colours are sold in nurseries.Starr, F. and K. Starr
''Impatiens hawkeri'' (New Guinea impatiens).
Plants of Hawaii. Starr Environmental. The species has been crossed with '' Impatiens aurantiaca'' and '' I. platypetala'' to improve characteristics such as

drought resistance Drought tolerance is the ability to which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tolerance, detox ...

.Stephens, L. C. (1998)
Formation of unreduced pollen by an ''Impatiens hawkeri'' × ''platypetala'' interspecific hybrid.
''Hereditas'' 128(3) 251-55.

References

hawkeri Flora of New Guinea Flora of the Solomon Islands (archipelago) House plants Plants described in 1886 {{Ericales-stub