Great balsam

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Great balsam
Greater balsam (Impatiens noli-tangere), illustration

Greater balsam ( Impatiens noli-tangere ), illustration

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Asterids
Order : Heather-like (Ericales)
Family : Balsamin family (Balsaminaceae)
Genre : Spring herbs ( Impatiens )
Type : Great balsam
Scientific name
Impatiens noli-tangere
L.

The great balsam ( Impatiens noli-tangere ), also true balsam , touch-me-not-touch , forest balsam or old woman's anger , is the only representative of the genus balsam ( Impatiens ) that originally occurs in Central Europe, so no neophyte is like the other species that are now native here. The term noli-tangere is shortened from pre-Linnean noli me tangere , which means “don't touch me”.

description

Great balsam

The annual herbaceous plant reaches heights of 30 to 70 (to 100) centimeters. The juicy stem is puffy at the knot. The upper leaves are usually smaller than the lower ones and have 7 to 16 (up to 20), mostly blunt teeth, on each side.

One to four stalked flowers hang in the axils of the upper leaves. The hermaphrodite golden yellow, zygomorphic flowers are (15 to) 20 to 35 mm long and have a curved spur. The petals are connected in pairs and dotted brown-red inside.

Flowering time is from July to August.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 10 or 40.

ecology

The annual plant is a very productive shallow root and a decidedly shade plant. Their leaves are non-wettable due to a wax coating. The leaf margin is equipped with water crevices, so-called hydathodes , on which drops can be found especially in the morning. This water separation is called guttation . The stems are juicy and translucent so that the vascular bundles are easy to see. The leaves are provided with extra-floral nectaries and have a fabric with oxalate crystals, so-called drusen, which presumably serve to protect against eating. The species is sensitive to frost and perishes after the first frosts; it is therefore a so-called frost hole pointer.

blossom
Large balsam with guttation droplets on leaf margins

The flowers are distinctly pre-male, hanging "throat flowers". The spur is equipped with nectaries and serves as a so-called juice holder. The stamens have grown together to form a tube and the pollen is connected by threads. The scars development begins only after the fall of the dust bag . Pollinators are bumblebees and other bee relatives. Spontaneous self-pollination takes place in tiny, closed, so-called cleistogamous flowers.

The fruit capsules are stretched by the pressure of the cell sap and tear open at lightning speed when touched at the pre-formed seams. The seeds are thrown away up to three meters (explosive fruits), see juice pressure spreader and ballochorie . Fruit ripening is from August to October.

fruit

The herb is eaten by deer and cattle .

Occurrence

Predominantly Eurasian distribution from the British Isles and the Pyrenees eastwards to the Pacific, beyond that in western North America. As a location, shady, moist to wet forest areas, ravine forests, alluvial forests, brook edges up to altitudes of 1300 m above sea level are preferred. The species grows in Central Europe on seep-moist or seep-wet, nutrient-rich, moderately acidic to mild, humus-rich, well-ventilated loam or clay soils, also on gley soils or seep-moist brown soils. It is a character type of the societies of the Alno-Ulmion association, but also occurs in fresh societies of the Fagion or Tilio-Acerion associations. Outside the natural area, it is also part of the Alliarion associations.

literature

  • Dankwart Seidel: Flowers. Determine accurately with the 3-check. 2nd, revised edition. blv, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-405-15766-8 .
  • Manfred A. Fischer , Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .
  • Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait. 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .
  • Karl Heinrich Waggerl : Cheerful Herbarium . Salzburg 1950.

Single receipts

  1. ↑ a b c d Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 649.
  2. ^ Hatcher, Paul E .: Impatiens noli-tangere L. Journal of Ecology, Volume 91, No. 1, 2003, pp. 147-167, Paragraph IV (A) doi: 10.1046 / j.1365-2745.2003.00741.x
  3. ↑ Markov, MV: Population biology of touch-me-not Impatiens noli-tangere L. Soviet Journal of Ecology, Volume 22, 1991, pp. 12-20.

Web links

Commons : Large balsam  album with pictures, videos and audio files