BALSAMS

About: 

• Name: Impatiens refers to a group of plants commonly known as Balsams or jewel-weeds. 
  
  
• Features: Consisting of both annual and perennial herbs, balsams are succulent plants with high endemism. Because of their bright beautiful flowers, these group of plants are of prized horticultural significance. 
  
  
• Distribution: About 230 species of Balsams are found in India, a majority of them in the eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats. 
  
  
• Habitat: They are highly sensitive to climatic conditions like extreme drought and extended exposure to sunlight. As a result Impatiens species are typically confined to stream margins, moist roadsides, waterside boulders, near waterfalls and wet forests.
  
  
• Recent discovery: Between 2010 and 2019, botanists and taxonomists discovered 23 new species of Balsams from the eastern Himalayas.