Impatiens psittacina

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Impatiens psittacina
ImpatiensPsittacinaHooker.jpg
Illustration by John Nugent Fitch accompanying Hooker's description
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Balsaminaceae
Genus: Impatiens
Species:
I. psittacina
Binomial name
Impatiens psittacina

Impatiens psittacina, known variously as the "parrot flower" or "parrot balsam" is a species of balsam from Southeast Asia that was described by the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker and was noted for its flower that resemble a "flying cockatoo". It is known from Thailand, Burma and parts of India. [1]

Contents

History

A balsam, Impatiens psittacina, or parrot flower, is a very rare impatiens species discovered in the Shan States of Upper Burma by Arthur Hedding Hildebrand, a British official. Seeds of it were presented to the Royal Gardens (Kew) in 1899 and it flowered in 1900 and a description was published in 1901 by Joseph Dalton Hooker who gave the common name of "cockatoo balsam". [2]

The specimen in Kew did not set seed but the capsules are said not to explode and disperse seeds as in many Impatiens.

The species grows in the wild in a small region of north Thailand (near Chiang Mai), Burma, and in the north-east Indian state of Manipur. The species name "psittacina" is Latin for "parrot-like", [3] in reference to parrot-shaped blooms viewed from the side.

The Thai government has prohibited exporting this species, so it is not in cultivation. [4] Counterfeit seeds are frequently sold. [5]

Description

A single Impatiens psittacina blossom with its parrot-like appearance d`kethiiynnkaekw.jpg
A single Impatiens psittacina blossom with its parrot-like appearance

The plant is erect and branches profusely and grows compactly to a height of about half a metre. Like other Impatiens species it has thick stems, the leaves have a serrulate margin. The flower is light purple and carmine red. The lateral sepals are orbicular and light green. The lower sepal is bulbous and narrows into a hooked spur tipped in carmine. The dorsal petal is orbicular and hooded while the lateral united petals are long. [1]

This species of Impatiens is known in Thai as thian nok kaeo (เทียนนกแก้ว; IPA:  [tʰiːan nók kɛ̂ːw] ), [6] which translates to "parrot impatiens".

Related Research Articles

<i>Impatiens</i> Genus of flowering plants

Impatiens is a genus of more than 1,000 species of flowering plants, widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and the tropics. Together with the genus Hydrocera, Impatiens make up the family Balsaminaceae.

<i>Impatiens walleriana</i> Species of flowering plant

Impatiens walleriana, also known as busy Lizzie, balsam, sultana, or simply impatiens, is a species of the genus Impatiens, native to eastern Africa from Kenya to Mozambique. The Latin specific epithet walleriana honours a British missionary, Horace Waller (1833–1896).

<i>Epidendrum geniculatum</i> Species of orchid

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<i>Impatiens balfourii</i> Species of orchid

Impatiens balfourii is a species of the genus Impatiens known by the common names Balfour's touch-me-not, Kashmir balsam, and poor man's orchid. It belongs to the family Balsaminaceae.

<i>Adenochilus</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<i>Pterostylis trullifolia</i> Species of orchid

Pterostylis trullifolia, commonly known as the trowel-leaved greenhood, is an orchid species endemic to New Zealand. As with similar orchids, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of wrinkled, trowel-shaped leaves but the flowering plants have a single flower with a bulging, platform-like sinus between the lateral sepals and leaves on the flowering spike.

<i>Pterostylis foliata</i> Species of orchid

Pterostylis foliata, commonly known as the slender greenhood, is a species of orchid widespread in south-eastern Australia and New Zealand. Flowering plants have a rosette of three to six, dark green, crinkled leaves crowded around the flowering stem and a single dark green and brown flower with a deep V-shaped sinus between the lateral sepals.

<i>Pterostylis australis</i> Species of orchid

Pterostylis australis, commonly known as the southern greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to New Zealand. Unlike many other greenhood orchids, this species lacks a rosette of leaves but instead only has leaves on the flowering stem. The leaf's shape differs according to it position on the stem and there is a single green and white-striped flower. This greenhood occurs on both of the main islands of New Zealand and often forms large colonies.

<i>Pterostylis graminea</i> Species of orchid

Pterostylis graminea, commonly known as the grass-leaved greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to New Zealand. It has erect, grass-like leaves with the upper ones higher than the yellowish-green and transparent white flower.

Pterostylis puberula, commonly known as the dwarf greenhood or snail greenhood is a species of orchid which is endemic to New Zealand. It has a rosette of pale yellowish, stalked leaves and a single silvery-white and green flower with relatively long, erect lateral sepals.

<i>Prasophyllum colensoi</i> Species of orchid

Prasophyllum colensoi is a species of orchid endemic to New Zealand where it is commonly known as the leek orchid. It has a single tubular, dark green leaf and up to twenty scented, yellowish-green to reddish-brown flowers. It is similar to P. hectori, the only other species of Prasophyllum found in New Zealand, but is distinguished from it by its smaller size, fewer flowers and different habitat.

Cyrtostylis oblonga, commonly known as the winter orchid or gnat orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to New Zealand. It has a single rounded leaf and a flowering stem with up to four pink or pinkish green flowers with a flat, oblong labellum.

Cyrtostylis rotundifolia, commonly known as the winter orchid or gnat orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to New Zealand. It has a single egg-shaped leaf and a flowering stem with up to four pink or pinkish green flowers with a flat, oblong labellum. It is very similar to Cyrtostylis oblonga and more investigation is required to determine if they are distinct from each other.

<i>Thelymitra pulchella</i> Species of orchid

Thelymitra pulchella, commonly called the striped sun orchid, is a species of orchid in the family Orchidaceae that is endemic to New Zealand. It has a single erect, fleshy, channelled leaf and up to fourteen blue flowers with darker stripes on the petal and sometimes also on the sepals. The column and its lobes are variable in shape and colour.

<i>Adenochilus gracilis</i> Species of flowering plant

Adenochilus gracilis is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New Zealand. It has a long, thin underground rhizome, a single leaf on the flowering stem and a single white flower with glandular hairs on the outside. Its labellum has red to maroon bars and a central band of yellow calli, but is almost obscured by the dorsal sepal.

<i>Pholidota imbricata</i> Species of orchid

Pholidota imbricata, commonly known as the common rattlesnake orchid or necklace orchid, is a plant in the orchid family and is a clump-forming epiphyte or lithophyte with crowded pseudobulbs. Each pseudobulb has a single pleated, leathery leaf and up to sixty white, cream-coloured or greenish, cup-shaped flowers in two ranks along a wiry flowering stem. There is a large, papery bract at the base of each flower. This species is native to areas from tropical and subtropical Asia to the southwest Pacific.

<i>Goniothalamus giganteus</i> Species of plant

Goniothalamus giganteus is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Malaya, Myanmar, Sumatra and Thailand. Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Thomson, the British botanists who first formally described the species, named it after its exceptionally large flowers.

<i>Goniothalamus griffithii</i> Species of plant

Goniothalamus griffithii is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Myanmar and Thailand. Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Thomson the British botanists who first formally described the species, named it in honor of William Griffith, another British botanist who collected the specimen they examined.

<i>Goniothalamus malayanus</i> Species of plant

Goniothalamus malayanus is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, the Nicobar Islands, Sumatra and Thailand. Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Thomson, the British botanists who first formally described the species, named it after part of its habitat range, British Malaya.

<i>Mitrephora tomentosa</i> Species of plant in the family Annonaceae

Mitrephora tomentosa is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Joseph Hooker and Thomas Thomson, the British botanists who first formally described the species, named it after the dense covering of hair on its young branches, leaves and flowers.

References

  1. 1 2 Morgan, P. Raymond (2007). Impatiens: the vibrant world of Busy Lizzies, Balsams, and Touch-me-nots. Timber Press. p.  205. ISBN   978-0881928525.
  2. Hooker, JD (1901). "Impatiens psittacina : Native of Burma. plate 7809". Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 127.
  3. "Plant Latin Dictionary". Archived from the original on 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
  4. "Thailand Parrot Flower".
  5. "eBay screeshot of August 8, 2015".
  6. "The Wild Flowers of Thailand." Thai Life. National Identity Board, 1992. p. 45. ISSN   0125-6637