Impatiens

Impatiens fischeri ?

Along partially shady path through Mt. Kenya Forest Reserve, Kirinyaga, Kenya, Africa. 2 June 2017.

Nectar is a valuable resource for bees and birds of many kinds. But for plants there is a purpose behind the offer and so restrictions have evolved so that flower visitors are also efective pollinators. Impatiens' nectar is deployed at the end of the long curved spur. What is the target pollinator species for this Impatiens? How dependent are the pollinator and this plant on each other? My brief research has determined that the name Impatiens fischeri used in Agnew (2013) is not resolved, but that the name has been applied to a popular cultivar that very much resembles this one and was apparently derived from Kenya.

Balsaminaceae -- Balsam Family

More Information:

• Book: Upland Kenya Wild Flowers and Ferns by A. D. Q. Agnew, 3rd Revised Edition, 2013, Nature Kenya - The East Africa Natural History Society
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