Garden balsam (Impatiens balsamina)

Balsam or rose balsam or touch-me-not or spotted snapweed or garden balsam (Impatiens balsamina) is a plant species in the Balsaminaceae, annual plant, fibrous roots, 20-75 cm high, stems thick but soft, cylindrical, bright green or red and has many branches.

I. balsamina has leaves arranged spirally, oblong-ovate in shape, 2.5-9 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, scalloped edges, sharp tip, a main vein in the center with many small veins pinnate and green.

Flowers are bright red or red or mauve or purple or lilac or white, 2.5-5 cm in diameter and have long stalks. The seed capsule is elliptical in shape, green in color and has white hair. The mature seed capsule undergoes explosive dehiscence. Flowers are pollinated by bees, insects and nectar-feeding birds.

Various parts of the plant are used as traditional medicine for rheumatism, broken bones, constipation, gastritis and skin diseases. The juice from the leaves is used to treat warts, snake bites and fish poison. Flowers are used for burns. Plant extracts to stimulate hair growth.

The seed pods are active against antibiotic-resistant strains of Helicobacter pylori. It is also an inhibitor of 5α-reductase, the enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (the active form of testosterone), thereby reducing the action of testosterone in the body.

The leaves are crushed to color the nails. The flowers are ground and mixed with alum to produce an orange dye that can be used to color semi-permanent nails, so colored nails must grow over time to remove traces of the color.

Naphthoquinones lawone or hennotannic acid, lawone methyl ether and methylene-3,3'-bilawsone are some of the active compounds in the leaves. It also contains kaempferol and some of its derivatives. Baccharane glycosides have been found in Chinese herbal medicine made from the seeds.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ericales
Family: Balsaminaceae
Genus: Impatiens
Subgenus: Impatiens
Section: Uniflorae
Species: Impatiens balsamina

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