Impatiens walleriana
(busy lizzy)

Preferred Scientific Name

• Impatiens walleriana Hook. f.

Preferred Common Name

• busy lizzy

Other Scientific Names

• Impatiens giorgii De Wild.
• Impatiens holstii Engl. & Warb.
• Impatiens lujai De Wild.
• Impatiens sultani Hook. f.
• Impatiens sultanii Hook. f.

International Common Names

• English: balsam; bizzy lizzy; bizzy-lizzie; busy lizzie; buzzy lizzy; garden impatiens; impatiens; Japanese balsam; jewel weed; patience plant; patient Lucy; shady lady; sultan's flower; touch-me-not; Zanzibar balsam
• Spanish: amor de quince; China; china rosa
• French: balsamine sauvage; impatiens
• Chinese: su dan feng xian hua

Local Common Names

• Brazil: beijinho; beijo; beijo-de-frade; beijo-turco; ciúmes; maravilha; maria-sem-vergonha; melindre; não-me-toque ; suspiro
• El Salvador: china cimarrona
• Germany: Fleissiges Lieschen
• Guatemala: flor de china; quinceañera
• Lesser Antilles: balsamine; impatience
• Netherlands: sultansbalsemien
• Puerto Rico: alegría; besos; miramelinda

EPPO code

• IPAWA (Impatiens walleriana)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Balsaminales
•                         Family: Balsaminaceae
•                             Genus: Impatiens
•                                 Species: Impatiens walleriana

Balsaminaceae is a family comprising only 2 genera and 1001 species of fleshy herbs with more or less translucent stems, swollen nodes and usually spiral, toothed leaves.  While the genus Impatiens is very diverse and includes about 1000 species, the genus Hydrocera is monotypic, containing the single species Hydrocera triflora, that is native to South India, Sri Lanka, Peninsular Malaysia, Java, and the Celebes. Species within the genus Impatiens are distributed mostly across the Old World: Africa (especially Madagascar) and tropical and subtropical montane forests of Southeastern Asia (Janssens et al., 2009; Stevens, 2019).

Impatiens walleriana is very variable in leaf shape and flower colour and thus it is widely cultivated as ornamental. Numerous cultivars and hybrids have been developed and are available in the horticulture trade (Brickell and Cathey, 2004; Flora of China, 2018; Queensland Government, 2018).

The following description is adapted from Christenhusz (2009):

Succulent perennial herbs 30-50(-80) cm; stems not or much branched, occasionally rooting at the lower nodes, often tinged reddish, usually glabrous, but rarely slightly pubescent in young shoots.

Leaves alternate, petiolate; petioles 1-6(-8) cm, with 1-3 stalked glands scattered along the length of the petiole; blades (2.5-) 4-13(-14) × 2-5.5(-7.5) cm, broadly ovate, glabrous, membranaceous, often tinged reddish, the margins crenate or crenate-dentate, usually with fimbriae between the teeth, the apex rounded, acute, acuminate or somewhat cuspidate. Inflorescences axillary racemes, usually 2-flowered, rarely with solitary flowers or 3-5 flowers; peduncles 2-5(-6.5) cm, glabrous or somewhat pubescent; bracts 2 or more, 3-6 × 0.1-0.3 mm, linear-lanceolate or subulate, the apex acute; pedicels 1-3 cm.

Flowers variable in colour, usually pink, purplish, mauve violet, orange, red or white; lateral sepals 3-7 mm, linear or ovate-lanceolate, whitish or greenish white, sometimes pink, the apex acute; lower sepal (8-)10-16 mm, the spur 28-45 mm, filiform, curved, with a slightly swollen tip; upper petal 11-19 × 13-25 mm, broadly obovate with a narrow crest in the middle terminating in an acute point, the apex emarginate; lateral united petals deeply incised, the upper and lower almost equal in size, the upper lateral petal 12-23 × 9-18 mm, the lower lateral petal 14-20 × 7-14 mm; ovary glabrous. Capsules 15-20 × 4-6 mm, fusiform, glabrous.

Impatiens walleriana has been cultivated as ornamental by Europeans since the 1800s (Cumo, 2013). In Puerto Rico this species was first reported as naturalized in 1923 (Rojas-Sandoval and Acevedo-Rodríguez, 2015).

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• acid
• neutral

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

Impatiens walleriana spreads by seed, but stem fragments may readily take root. In cultivation, it is commonly propagated by cuttings. The fruit is an explosively-dehiscent capsule with the walls in-rolling from the base. Seeds are dispersed when they are ejected from the mature capsule. Seeds can be secondarily dispersed by wind and water and as a contaminant on topsoil, garden tools and machinery. Stem segments can also be dispersed in dumped garden waste (Adamowski, 2008; Christenhusz, 2009; Cumo, 2013; PIER, 2018; Queensland Government, 2018).  

Impatiens walleriana is a successful invasive species. This species often escapes cultivation to become naturalized in a wide range of habitats, including disturbed sites, secondary forests, forest edges, riparian sites, coastal thickets and grasslands. It forms dense and large stands in the lower strata of shaded and humid areas, where it outcompetes native plant species and can also alter the natural regeneration of these areas (Adamowski, 2008; Christenhusz, 2009; GRIIS, 2018; I3N-Brasil, 2018; PIER, 2018; PROTA, 2018). In Australia, I. walleriana is ranked among the top 200 most invasive plant species and it has been recorded invading national parks and conservation areas, where it has colonized forest margins and is displacing native fern communities. It is also listed among the invasive species that threaten the integrity of particular stands of endangered littoral rainforest in New South Wales (Queensland Government, 2018).

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Is a habitat generalist
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Tolerant of shade
• Highly mobile locally
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Gregarious
• Has propagules that can remain viable for more than one year
• Reproduces asexually

• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Modification of successional patterns
• Monoculture formation
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of endangered species
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - smothering
• Competition (unspecified)
• Rapid growth
• Rooting

• Highly likely to be transported internationally accidentally
• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately
• Difficult to identify/detect as a commodity contaminant

Economic value

Worldwide, Impatiens species are extensively cultivated as ornamentals. Impatiens walleriana is the most popular annual bedding plant in the United States (Missouri Botanical Garden, 2018). Together the most widespread species, I. walleriana and I. hawkeri, generate annual profits of about $250 million in the United States alone (Brickell and Cathey, 2004; Adamowski, 2008; Cumo, 2013; USDA-ARS, 2018). 

Social Benefit

Many Impatiens species, including I. walleriana, are used in folk medicine (Christenhusz, 2009)