Species

Impatiens sodenii

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).

Common Name(s)

sods balsam, poor man's rhododendron

Authority

Impatiens sodenii Engl.

Family

Balsaminaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

IMPSOD

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Terrestrial. Waste places, coastal areas, scrubland. Common garden and pot plant.

Features

Glabrous subshrub to about 2m high, stems green, semi succulent. Leaves in whorls of up to 6 up to 12 x 3.5 cm. Flowers solitary on slender pedicels amongst axils of uppermost leaves, 5-6.5 cm diameter, pink. Fruit up to 2.5 cm long, fusiform.

Similar Taxa

I. walleriana is similar but is smaller and has orange or red flowers.

Flowering

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Flower Colours

Red / Pink

Year Naturalised

1958

Origin

Eastern Africa

Reason for Introduction

Ornamental

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Perennial. Grows well from seeds and cuttings (Ewen Cameron 1996). Dispersed through dumped garden waste and water movement.

Tolerances

Moderate to high shade tolerance.

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.

This page last updated on 28 Jul 2014