A beautiful and very delicate plant of touchy (Balsamic family) belongs to a large genus, which is called Touchy. It has over 500 plant species. The garden "career" of these plants developed with varying success: there was a time when they were admired, and then undeservedly forgotten.
Today, the attention of gardeners and flower lovers is again riveted to them. Yellow, purple, crimson, pink flowers, long flowering are the main distinguishing features of these plants.
Distribution
Himalaya comes from the Himalayas. It was introduced as an ornamental plant. Prefers moist shady areas, grows along the banks of rivers and lakes. The plant naturally grows most often in tropical Africa and Asia, some members of the genus grow in America and Europe.
In our country, almost everywhere you can find common impatiens with small or large yellow flowers, as well as glandular, in which flowers are pink. We will talk about them in thisarticle.
Name
The genus name Impatiens consists of two Latin words: im, which means "no", and patiens, which translates as "endure", "endure". Thus, the name of the genus means "a plant that does not tolerate when it is touched." It comes from the ability of this plant to respond to the slightest touch.
Common Hardy
Herbaceous annual plant up to 80 cm high with erect succulent stem and fibrous branched root. The leaves are petiolate, alternate, with large teeth along the edge, oval.
Flowers drooping, irregular, lemon-yellow, with a spur, usually collected in racemes. The fruit is an oblong box. During ripening, when touched, it cracks and violently ejects the seeds contained inside. Impatiens ordinary blooms from the second half of June to the end of September. Prefers damp shady areas, forms impenetrable thickets.
The chemical composition of this plant has not yet been sufficiently studied. It is known for certain that during flowering the touchy contains 68.5% of vitamin C.
Using Impatiens vulgaris
The plant is used only by traditional healers. An infusion of the herb is taken as an anti-inflammatory and diuretic for diseases of the bladder, kidneys, edema, and nephrolithiasis. In addition, it is also used as an emetic. Infusion of herbs washed wounds, ulcers. Baths with infusion give a good effect onjoint pains. Crushed leaves are applied to bruises, hemorrhoids.
Handy vulgaris has long been successfully used by folk healers. For medicinal use, the plant is cut whole during flowering. Dry raw materials, laying out in the shade or in a well-ventilated area. Impatiens is used for external and internal bleeding, with stones in the bladder and kidneys.
Preparing the infusion
Two tablespoons (tablespoons) of crushed raw materials, brew 500 ml of boiling water in a thermos. Leave it to infuse for five hours. After this time, strain. Take the remedy in a warm form. During the day, you need to drink 200 ml of the product in equal shares. Impatiens acts on the uterus, causing its intense contraction with heavy bleeding. In addition, this infusion is recommended for the treatment of bleeding from the bladder and rectum. It is used externally to treat ulcers, wounds, hemorrhoids.
Tompathy ordinary - melliferous, medicinal, dyeing and poisonous plant. You should not get carried away with self-medication, even if one of your friends advises you to “drink weed.”
Glandular Impatiens: Description
This is also an annual. Grows up to two meters. The stems are straight, having internodes, often transparent, juicy, filled with juice. Leaves alternate, elliptical, entire. The plate is shiny and delicate. Their length is 10 cm, the edges are jagged.
The second name of the plant is glandular balsam (iron-bearing balsam). plant stemthick, strongly branched, knotty, juicy. The leaves are ovate-lanceolate, can reach a length of 12 cm. They are serrated along the edge, with winged petioles. At the top of the stem, they gather in whorls.
Wine-red, white, pink flowers of this type of impatiens are large, simple, collected in umbrella-shaped brushes of 10-14 pieces. The petals are 3-3.5 cm long. The flowers have a delicate and delicate smell, they are pollinated by various insects, but most often by bumblebees.
Handy glandular has interesting features. During flowering, its leaves secrete drops of sweet and fragrant juice along the edges, which forms sugar crystals upon evaporation. They attract ants. Peduncles during flowering significantly lengthen and hide, as if under an umbrella, under the leaves, protecting the flowers from the rain.
Flower diameter (with sufficient heat and moisture) - 3 cm. They are more closed, but when the seeds from these flowers fall into a fertile environment, they produce beautiful large, well-developed flowers.
The fruit is an oblong multi-seeded juicy box, which consists of five wings. During maturation, the joints of the valves become weak, and the box is constantly in tension. If you slightly shake the stem or touch the box a little, it immediately bursts with a crash, and dark brown seeds are scattered with force over a distance of up to two meters. of them annuallymany new plants grow. Seeds are spread by birds and animals over long distances. They do not lose their germination for eight years.
Handy and magic
In ancient times, it was believed that the touchy glandular was able to magically open locks, destroy prison bolts with one touch. It was believed that the flower could break gold and silver, iron and copper into small pieces. The thieves who found the touchy made an incision in the palm of their hand, inserted grass into it, and then healed the wound. From the touch of such a hand, the locks allegedly fell from the doors.
People believed that anyone who simply carried this plant in their pocket was well protected from any bullet. This grass, thrown into the forge of the enemy, deprived him of the opportunity to forge iron. But not every touchy possessed magical properties, but only those that were mined in compliance with special rites.
It was necessary to find a hollow in which a woodpecker made a nest, and at the same time there were already chicks in it. Then it was necessary to wait for the mother bird to fly away, and then tightly close the nest. Seeing that the nest is closed, the bird will certainly bring the stalk of the touchy. From his light touch, the hollow will open. At that moment, the person watching should have shouted loudly so that the frightened bird would drop the grass.
Garden breeding
Glandular Impatiens is the largest plant of its kind. It is rarely bred in rural front gardens, because it gives abundant self-seeding, often "runs" over the fence and forms solid thickets of succulent stems. And gardeners and owners of country houses love balsams. They look great in a border, borders, or as the centerpiece of a flower bed.
Handy can become a perennial plant. If you grew it in the garden or on the balcony, cut off the stem and grow the flower in the room during the winter. The only drawback of this procedure is the fall of the leaves in low light.
It is best to plant impatiens in the garden, in a well-ventilated, fairly sunny spot with organic-rich soil. Gardeners need to know that impatiens take out a lot of nitrogen from it, and therefore grow quite quickly. On poor soils, they almost never reach their maximum size. They especially do not like thickening balsams: the plants become stunted, and flowering ends very quickly.
This species is not used in medicine. Gardeners need to be careful when working with this plant. The fact is that touchy glandular is poisonous. And one more piece of advice. Do not plant this plant if there are small children in the family.
