Impatiens glauca - Glaucous Balsam

Glaucous Balsam is a hairless herb with stems about 70 cm high, much branched, glaucous. Leaves are alternate, ovate-lanceshaped, more or less rounded or heart-shaped at base, pointed at tip, deeply rounded toothed along margins, 5-16 x 2.5-8.5 cm, membranous, glaucous, lateral nerves 6-20 pairs, linked by a loose network of secondary nerves; leaf-stalk 2.5-9.5 cm with a scutellate gland at base. Flowers are borne in 6-8-flowered racemes, in leaf-axils or at branch-ends, about 2 cm, orange or pale red. Bracts are elliptic to elliptic-oblong or ovate, about 4 mm long; flower-cluster-stalks about 12 cm long; flower-stalks stout, about 1.5 cm long. Lateral sepals are ovate, curved at base, about 5 x 4 mm. Lip is boat-shaped; spur bent upwards. Standard is hoodlike, pointedly pointed at tip. Capsules are linear or club-shaped, about 3.5 cm, hairless. Glaucous Balsam is found in W. Himalayas, in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Nepal, at altitudes of 2100-3000 m. Flowering: August-October.