Herbs (generally with translucent stems, rarely almost shrubby); with watery juice. Plants more or less succulent. Annual, or perennial; with a basal aggregation of leaves, or with neither basal nor terminal aggregations of leaves. Morphology: -Leaves: Leaves medium-sized; alternate, or opposite, or whorled; when alternate, spiral; when whorled, 3 per whorl; flat; petiolate; simple; Lamina entire; acicular to linear, or oblong to ovate; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves exstipulate, or stipulate. Stipules if detectable, represented by glands. Lamina margins entire, or teethed, or serrate. Paired glands or foliaceous lateral flaps on leaf base/stem Stomata present; Hairs usually absent. -Flowers: flowers vertically monosymmetric, inverting during growth; functionally abaxial sepal with prominent spur, nectary inside, adaxial often with a sepaloid keel, lateral petals connate in pairs (free), A forming cap over stigma, filaments stout, partly connate apically, anthers (polythecate) connate and forming cap over stigma, pollen with cellulose threads holding it to anther, several (unitegmic) apotropous ovules/carpel, stigma fairly broad, wet. -Fruits: fruit an explosive capsule, walls inrolling from base; seed pachychalazal, exotesta only thickened (sclerotic, testa 6 cells thick - Hydrocera); endosperm scanty, also chalazal haustorium, cotyledons large
Distribution
Holarctic, Paleotropical, and Cape. Temperate to tropical. Eurasia, Africa, North America
Uses
This Family has one of the oldest Western World house plants (Impatiens sultanii) The genus Impatiens has also an antihistaminic and antiinflamatory juice, what can be used in a lot of skin diseases, as bruises, burnts, cuts, eczema, insect bites,sores, sprains, warts, ringworm, and poison ivy rush
Chemical characters
Seed oil with acetic acid and pharinade acid with glycerides. A lot of oxalate raphides.Some plants with saponines and tanines.Usually accumulate proanthocyanines but without ellagic acid. Rarely cyanogenic substances.
Distribution maps
(online von http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/ . Dort zitiert wie unter jedem Diagramm vermerkt):
Balsaminaceae
map: from Hultén 1971; Meusel et al. 1978; Grey-Wilson 1980a; Hultén & Fries 1986
