• Scientific Name: Impatiens walleriana Hook.f.
• Ref: D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 1:302. 1868
• Synonyms: Impatiens episcopi H.J.Veitch, I. holstii Engl. & Warb., I. lujae De Wild., I. petersiana Gilg ex Grignan, I. sultani Hook.f.
• English Common Name: busy Lizzie, buzzy lizzy, balsam, sultana, impatiens
• Chinese Common Name: 非洲凤仙花 Fēizhōu fèngxiānhuā, 玻璃翠 bōlícuì, 苏丹凤仙花 Sūdān fèngxiānhuā
• Japanese Common Name: アフリカホウセンカ [アフリカ鳳仙花] afurikahōsenka, インパチェンス inpachensu
• Family: Balsaminaceae
• Genus: Impatiens
• Distribution: Coastal forest areas, riverine thickets, river margins, shaded places, humid places, also cultivated in gardens and greenhouses; ca. 1800 m. Guangdong, Hebei [native to E Africa; widely cultivated in many parts of the world].
• Photo: 04/19/2013, Chenshan Botanical Garden, Shanghai

Plants perennial, succulent, green or reddish tinged, 30-70 cm tall, simple or branched, glabrous or rarely slightly pubescent at shoot apices. Leaves alternate; petiole 1.5-6 cm, with 1 or 2, rarely few, stipitate glands; leaf blade broadly elliptic or ovate to oblong-elliptic, 4-12 × 2.5-5.5 cm, with 1 or 2, rarely few, stipitate basal glands, glabrous, lateral veins 5-8 pairs, base cuneate, rarely ± rounded, attenuate into petiole, margin crenate-denticulate, apex acute or acuminate, or somewhat cuspidate. Inflorescences in leaf axils of upper stem and branches, usually 2(-5)-flowered, sometimes 1-flowered; peduncles 3-5 cm. Pedicels 1.5-3 cm, slender, bracteate at base; bracts linear-lanceolate or subulate, ca. 2 mm, apex acute. Flowers variable in size and color: red, crimson-red, pink, purple-red, purplish violet, or white. Lateral sepals 2, greenish or whitish, ovate-lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 3-7 mm, apex acute. Lower sepal shallowly navicular, 0.8-1.5 cm deep, abruptly constricted into a curved spur; spur filiform, 2.4-4 cm. Upper petal broadly obcordate or obovate, 1.5-1.9 × 1.3-2.5 cm, apex emarginate, cuspidate, abaxial midvein narrowly cristate; lateral united petals not clawed, 1.8-2.5 cm, 2-lobed; basal and distal lobes nearly equal in size and shape; basal lobes obovate or obovate-spatulate, 1.4-2 × ca. 1.4 cm; distal lobes 1.2-2.3 × ca. 1.8 cm, margin entire or emarginate. Ovary fusiform, ca. 4 mm, glabrous. Capsule fusiform, 1.5-2 cm, glabrous. Fl. Jun-Oct. 2n = 16. (Flora of China)

04/19/2013, Chenshan Botanical Garden, Shanghai