The email containing photos of the Rare Thailand Parrot Flower, Impatiens psittacina, has been circulating the internet for months. Rare plant collector Julius Boos and I have spent a great deal of time and many emails tracking down this species. We even managed to find out who originally took and posted the photos many have now seen. It is an extremely rare plant endemic to Northern Thailand and Burma. Claims that it grows in India and Vietnam have proven to be false. The plant was originally identified in 1901 at the Royal Botanical Garden Kew and posted in a botanical journal in England. With Julius' assitance I have written a brief article about the plant and our search for information. You can read the article and see the botanical information and drawing at
http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Rare%20Thailand%20Parrot%20Flower%20SP.html
http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Rare%20Thailand%20Parrot%20Flower%20buy%20one%20SP.html
Scroll down near the bottom of the page and click on the link. The internet photos are also included along with information about the Thai gentleman who originally posted them. The plant is truly rare and is not available for sale in the United States. We have also learned it is very tricky to grow and likely not suitable for backyard gardners. You'll never see this one at K-Mart even though seed sellers are trying to get it. The governments of both countries have banned their export. The plant does not reproduce well since the natural pollinator is apperently missing. I have exchanged emails with an extremely small number of growers (not in this country) who have collected seed in the wild and attempted to grow the plant. Despite the claims of many the photos are a PhotoShop hoax they are genuine. This is not a hoax.
Steve Lucas
This message was edited Oct 3, 2006 7:53 PM
This message was edited Oct 3, 2006 8:01 PM
This message was edited Jan 14, 2008 5:17 PM
Impatiens psittacina, The Rare Thailand Parrot Flower
Ummm.....I think something's wrong with that first link, you should probably remove it, although I can't figure out why it's going there.
There's a comma that doesn't belong at the end of it, I think if you remove that it'll go to where it's supposed to.
The flower does really exist in Thailand. From this link you will find a number of photos posted by different people. This is not a hoax for sure!
Link: http://images.google.com/images?q=%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%A7&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&start=20&sa=N&filter=0&ndsp=20
anybody have some seeds of these? sure would love to try them
moretz
There is now a Thai tour company offering tours to see the Thailand Parrot Flower. I just got an explanation about the tour. The company is Tourdoi in Thailand. They offer tours to see all sorts of plants and now have a tour specifically to see the Parrot Flower (Impatiens psittacina) in habitat. If you go to their homepage you'll find a bunch of plant photos. Those are plants you can see on various tours. Click on the photo you want to see and read about the tour. Unfortuanately the Parrot Flower tour is explained in Thai, I've asked the company for a translation. This is the link to the plant tours they offer: http://www.tourdoi.com/general/flower/main_page.htm
The Parrot Flower can be found on the right. Click on that photo then click on the link at the bottom of the next page to see the tour. There are several new photos of the plant from different angles. You will have to scroll down a bit but these are photos not previously seen on the web. One shows people walking around the flower. If people still believe this was a "fake" flower they need to explain that to the people paying to go on the tour. But I get requests all the time from people who would like to go see it in the wild so I'm sure there are people who would like to have this link.
If anyone takes the tour in Thailand I'd love to see more photos!
Thanks!
Steve Lucas
The photo I posted above is not mine despite what the computer impression on it says. The photo came from Tourdori in Thailand.
Steve Lucas
moretz--I don't think you can find seeds or plants for sale of I. psittacina, you might try I. arguta instead, it's more widely available and has a similar look. Annie's Annuals sells it sometimes, as does Kartuz (I think) and I'm pretty sure I've run across it a couple other places too although I can't remember where. I don't know any sources for seeds, the ones I've run across have all been plants.
ecrane3
thxs for the info.i love those impatiens they areso cool lol
thxs again
moretz
Thanks for all your effort. dixie
I don't think anyone was trying to say it's fake.
This message was edited Oct 26, 2006 12:41 PM
This message was edited Oct 26, 2006 12:45 PM
Wow are those beautiful! So who's growing them?
I just had an email forwarded from a Baptist missionary in Thailand. It is a translation of the cover of a plant growing guide in Thailand and contains the growing instructions for Impatiense psittacina, "The Rare Thailand Parrot Flower". The plant gets almost 6 feet tall, has normal sized impatiens leaves and a very thick stem.