Garden balsam
காசித்தும்பைബാൾസംतेरडा
Impatiens balsamina L.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 46 cm
- wide
- —
Balsaminaceae
Also called Spotted snapweed
When it flowers
Flowers June to February in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- AnnualKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Seasonally dry tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- W. & S. India, Sri LankaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 15 cm to 76 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, red, pink, purpleRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension pink, purple, red, white; Wikipedia pink, purple, red, violet, white
Not known yet: spread, coldest it survives, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
Arabian jasmineFlowers March to May, when this does not
Barbados gooseberryFlowers March to May, when this does not
Barbados lilyFlowers March to May, when this does not
Black-eyed Susan vineFlowers March to May, when this does not
Blue dazeFlowers March to May, when this does not
Bush Morning GloryFlowers March to May, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Balsamina asiática, Beso de novia, Espuela de gallo
- French
- Impatiente balsamine
- Czech
- netýkavka balzamína
- Dutch
- Balsemien, Tuinbalsemien
- Estonian
- balsamiinlemmalts, aedbalsamiin
- Chinese
- 鳳仙花, 透骨草, 凤仙花
- Korean
- 봉선화
- Japanese
- ホウセンカ
- Finnish
- mummonpalsami
- German
- Balsamine, Balsam-Springkraut
- Russian
- Недотрога бальзаминовая
- Indonesian
- Pacar Air
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Impatiens balsamina (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.