Balsaminaceae A.Rich.

Smets, E. F. & Janssens, S. B., 2018, Balsaminaceae of Myanmar, Blumea 63 (3), pp. 199-267 : 207

Balsaminaceae A.Rich.

Balsaminaceae A.Rich. (1822) 173, nom. cons.; DC. (1824) 685; Du Mortier (1829) 46; Y.L. Chen et al. (2007) 43.

Hydroceraceae Blume (1825) 241, nom. illeg.; Reveal (1993) 218.

Impatientaceae Barnhart (1895) 16; Saff. (1905) 296; Henkel (1906) 38.

Terrestrial, lithophytic, epiphytic or semi-aquatic, perennial or annual, shrub or herb. Stem erect or procumbent, usually succulent, often rooting at lower nodes. Leaves simple, spirally, decussate, or whorled, petiolate or sessile. Lamina papyraceous or coriaceous, apex acute to acuminate, margin serrate or crenate, often with glands at the base or on the petiole. Inflorescence axillary to subterminal, erect or pendulous, solitary, fascicled, or racemose. Peduncle mostly cylindrical, often angular. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic or asymmetrical, mostly resupinate, rarely non-resupinate. Sepals 3 or 5. Lateral sepals 2 or 4: the upper pair often reduced or absent; the lower pair free or connate, distinct. Lower sepal navicular, deeply navicular, bucciniform, deeply bucciniform, infundibular, to saccate, tapering or abruptly constricted into a spur, sometimes spurless. Dorsal petal flat or cucullate, abaxial midvein often with crest. Lateral petals 4, connate (except in Hydrocera ): upper petals free (connate only in I. kingdon­wardii ); lower petals free or connate in sect. Semeiocardium . Stamens 5: filaments partially fused, adnate to the ovary; anthers connate, forming a cap over the stigma. Ovary 4 or 5 carpellate. Fruits a fleshy dehiscent capsule, or indehiscent pseudoberry-like drupe in Hydrocera .