Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Garden Balsam - Impatiens balsamina   L.
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Section 6 » Order Geraniales » Family Balsaminaceae
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AuthorL.
DistributionScattered in 5 counties in the Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain. Specimens from Rutherford and Tyrrell counties are misidentified.

Native of southern Asia; in N.A. RI to WI south to FL and TX.
AbundanceVery rare.
HabitatRoadside ditch, campus weed, dump, waste area. Most collections were near to cultivated plants.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting June-November.
IdentificationUnlike our native species, Garden Balsam is a short herb with little or no branching, and leaf margins are sharply short-toothed. Flowers are red to magenta, pink, or white. It looks nothing like our two native species and arguably should be in a different genus from them.
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State RankSE
Global RankGNR
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B.A. SorrieLuquillo National Forest, Puerto Rico, roadside, 1970. Photo_non_NCPhoto_non_NC
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