16 balsam species found in 5 years in Arunachal: 

16 balsam species found in 5 years in Arunachal:

Context

• 16 new species of plants under the genus Impatiens, commonly referred to as balsam, have been discovered from Arunachal Pradesh since 2013.
• Botanists have found 55 species of balsam from the northeastern State, 16 of which are new discoveries to science.

‘Balsam’

• Common names include impatiens, jewelweed, touch-me-not, snapweed, patience, and, for I. walleriana in Great Britain, “busy lizzie”, as well as, ambiguously, balsam.

Uses:

Impatiens balsamina or Rose Balsam

• The plant is cathartic, diuretic and emetic.
• It is used in the treatment of pains in the joints. The leaf juice is used as a treatment against warts.
• The flowers are cooling, mucilaginous and tonic. They are useful when applied to burns and scalds.
• The juice of the flowers is used to treat snakebites.
• The flowers, and their alcoholic extract, possess marked antibiotic activity against some pathogenic fungi and bacteria.
• The seed is expectorant and has been used in the treatment of cancer.
• The powdered seeds are given to women during labour in order to provide strength.
• North American impatiens have been used as herbal remedies for the treatment of bee stings, insect bites, and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) rashes. They are also used after poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) contact to prevent a rash from developing

Study on Balsam

• The study on the balsams emphasizes that the balsams have immense horticulture importance.
• Studies on hybrids of the plants have been undertaken to produce flowers that can sustain in different environmental conditions.
• The exact number of balsam species is an important information as different hybrids can be created from wild balsam species.

Impatiens species

Impatiens walongensis

• In August 2017, a research paper has described Impatiens walongensis, a new species of balsam, published in the scientific journal Phytotaxa.
• The species was discovered from Arunachal Pradesh’s Anjaw district.
• Impatiens walongensis is a meter tall with ovate elliptical leaves and light pink flowers.
• The plant is named after Walong, the locality where it was found.
• Impatiens walongensisis the latest but not the only new discovery of balsam in Arunachal Pradesh.

Impatiens arunachalensis

• They bear purple flowers with a pink throat. It was discovered from the Upper Siang district.
• Since only 50 plants of the species were found at a particular location, scientists described the conservation status of the plant as critically endangered.

Impatiens zironiana

• These are the lanceolate pale yellow floral buds flowering and fruiting in the rainy season from July to September, discovered from the Lower Subansiri district.

Others

• Two more species of balsam, Impatiens rugosipetala from the State’s Lower Dibang valley, and Impatiens tatoensis from the West Siang district, were also discovered and described earlier this year.

What are the soil requirements for Balsam species?

• The Balsams are known for their starkly differing flower shapes, which are produced along the stem with vivid colours like pink, red, white, purple and yellow. These balsams mostly grow in rich moist soil.
• Across the world, about 1,000 species of these angiosperms or closed seeded plants are known to occur.
• In India, about 210 balsam species were known till these new discoveries from Arunachal Pradesh emerged. Now, the number of balsam species has increased to 230.
• The Impatiens is known for the high endemism among these plants.
• These plants have a very small habitat hence they face a threat from the fast-changing landscape of the region.

Why it took time to get discovered?

• The inaccessibility and the difficult terrain of the region were among the reasons why it took so long for the new species to be discovered.
• The researchers also had to dissect and study their morphology in the field.