Hairy Fruit Balsam is an annual herb 20-60 cm high,
branching, appressed hairy. Leaves are alternate, nearly stalkless,
elliptic-lanceshaped, pointed, serrulate along margins, 4-7 x 2.5-3.5
cm, leathery. Flowers are solitary or paired, flower-stalks 1-1.5 cm
long, hairless or finely velvet-hairy. Lateral sepals are ovate,
pointed. Lip is boat-shaped, about 8 mm long, velvet-hairy. Spur is
about 2 cm, shorter than lip, robust, incurved. Standard is round,
about 7 mm across, hoodlike, keeled on dorsal side ending into a mucro.
Wings are about 1.2 cm long, bilobed; basal lobes rounded; distal lobes
larger than basal ones, semilunate or dolabriform; dorsal ear
prominent, decurved. Capsules are ellipsoid, 1 - 1.2 cm long, turgid,
woolly; seeds spherical, about 2 mm, papillose. Hairy Fruit Balsam is
endemic to W. Ghats: Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Flowering:
August-December.
Identification credit: Shrishail Kulloli
Photographed in Karnataka.
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The flower labeled Hairy Fruit Balsam is ...