Impatiens walleriana
Common name
Busy lizzie
Family
Balsaminaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Conservation status
Not applicable
Flower colours
Red/Pink, Violet/Purple
Life cycle
Short lived perennial, reproduces by seed and asexually by vegetative detachment.
Year naturalised
1988
Origin
E. Africa
Reason for introduction
Horticultural.
Etymology
impatiens: From the Latin impatiens ‘impatient, hasty’, referring perhaps to the manner in which the pods of some species explode (Johnson and Smith, 1986).
References and further reading
Johnson, A. T. and Smith, H. A (1986). Plant Names Simplified: Their pronunciation, derivation and meaning. Landsman Bookshop Ltd: Buckenhill, UK.