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Impatiens irvingii

Impatiens irvingii
Photo: KATHERINE WAGNER-REISS, CC BY-SA 4.0

Impatiens irvingii is a tropical African perennial with succulent, trailing or upright stems and waxy, dark green leaves, grown mainly for its foliage and light purple flowers. It needs warmth, humidity and consistently moist soil to thrive.

Family
Balsaminaceae (Balsamin family)
Grows as
Succulent, Perennial
Light
Bright indirect, Part shade
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist and never let it dry out completely.
Soil
Rich, well-draining peat-based potting mix with added perlite.
Temperature
18–28 °C; protect below 10 °C.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not toxic to cats or dogs (ASPCA).
Native range
Trop. Africa
Climate
wet tropical

About

Impatiens irvingii is a species of flowering plant in the family Balsaminaceae. It is native to tropical Africa.

This is a variable plant. In general, it is a perennial herb with stems up to 1.5 meters long, or occasionally longer. They are rarely erect, more often prostrate or somewhat upright. The stems are succulent with swollen nodes, often red in color or green tinged with red, and sometimes hairy or velvety. The spirally arranged leaves have generally lance-shaped, toothed blades up to 16 centimeters long. They are dark green and waxy on the upper surfaces and silvery green on the undersides. They are sometimes hairy. Light purple flowers grow in the leaf axils. They have hairy bracts and sepals. The back sepal tapers into a long spur. The petals are up to 3 centimeters long. The fruit capsule is up to 1.8 centimeters long.

Other Impatiens plants

Stemless Balsam · Impatiens arguta · Paleyellow touch-me-not · Impatiens auricoma · Balfour's touch-me-not · Spotted snapweed · Impatiens bicolor · Impatiens bokorensis · Jewelweed · Heart Leaf Balsam · Tree Dwelling Balsam · Impatiens denisonii

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Impatiens irvingii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.

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