Impatiens balsamina
This is a very common flowering annual in the hot tropics, especially in the Pacific side. We call this 'kamantigue' in the Philippines. It is one of the plants which has a lot of common names. One reference has 14 and another has 10 and there are names which are not repeated in the two references, which means there are more than 14 names for this plant. With that, it is safer to call it Impatiens balsamina, for better understanding. It provides variations in color and complexity of petals. If you have just one plant in your garden in a year, you will expect a lot of them emerging when the rains come. I remember we only have a few plants in our property, but later on I see already many colors . And sometimes when plenty of seedlings emerge at the same time, we treat them as weeds or thin out the weaker ones.
Even if they seem invasive, butterflies and bees love its nectar. So they assure us of these lovely visitors in the rainy season. Then they produce lots of pods which produce a lot of seeds, and rainwater carry them in effluents to other areas. I just learned it is a useful medicinal plant. Moreover, it fascinates me that the stems, leaves and seeds can be eaten as vegetables. Also, all parts of the plants can be also used as tea. Next rainy season i will try to taste it. Blogging certainly helped me in knowing plants which might be helpful in the future, when food becomes difficult.
If anybody has seen the violet or the blue colors, please tell me. I will not be impatient with them in our property if they are in these colors!
If anybody has seen the violet or the blue colors, please tell me. I will not be impatient with them in our property if they are in these colors!
single petal, peach
multi-petals, red
multi-petals, silky pink
multi-petal, red (more petals than red above)
multi-petals, orange; these plants are growing as weeds in the vicinity
I joined this post to Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday
