Impatiens balsamina (garden balsam) - Impatiens balsamina (garden balsam)

Japanese: ホウセンカ(鳳仙花) - ホウセンカ（英語表記）Impatiens balsamina; garden balsam

An annual plant of the Balsaminaceae family. Native to India, the Malay Peninsula, and China in southern Asia, it is now widely cultivated as a summer flower around the world, and there are many horticultural varieties. The entire plant is fleshy and soft, with upright stems that branch sparsely. The lower nodes swell and produce adventitious roots. The leaves are lanceolate with sharp serrated tips. They have reddish petioles and grow alternately. In summer, the plant produces flowers hanging from the leaf axils by pedicels and arranged sideways. The flowers are bilaterally symmetrical, with the spurs (deformed sepals) curling backwards in a hook shape. The flowers come in red, purple, yellow, white, and other colors, and some are double-flowered. The fruit is a pointed, oval-shaped capsule with fine hairs, and when ripe, it vigorously scatters yellowish-brown seeds.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

ツリフネソウ科の一年草。アジア南部のインド，マレー半島および中国の原産で，現在では夏の花として世界中で広く栽培され，園芸品種が多い。草全体が多肉質で軟らかく，茎は直立し，まばらに分枝する。下部の節はふくらみ不定根を出す。葉は披針形で先端はとがり鋸歯がある。赤みを帯びた葉柄があり，互生する。夏に，葉腋から花柄で吊下がった花を横向きにつける。花は左右相称で，萼片が変形した距が後方へ鉤形に曲っている。花色は赤，紫，黄，白などで，八重咲きもある。果実は細毛のあるとがった楕円形の蒴果で，熟すると黄褐色の種子を勢いよく飛ばす。

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