Impatiens pulchra - Handsome East-Himalayan Balsam

Handsome East-Himalayan Balsam is an annual herb, about 10-30 cm tall. It can be easily confused with Mountain Balsam. Flowers are borne in leaf-axils, in 1-2 flowered clusters, in the upper parts of the plant. Flowers are rose straw, purplish pink, with dark red streaks, flower-stalk slender, about 1.5-3 cm long, bracts lanceshaped, on the top of the flower-cluster-stalk, about 2-5 mm long. Sepals are 3, overlapping, 2 lateral ones flat, small, ovate, tip pointed to tapering, hairless, about 6-10 x 4-7 mm long, lower sepal (Lip) is large, funnel shaped, about 1-1.5 x 0.8-2 cm across, spurred, spur thread-like, abruptly constricted, curved, about 1.2-2.5 cm long. Upper petal is keeled or hoodlike, nearly round-inverted-heart-shaped, pointedly crested, about 1.6 x 1 cm long. Lateral petals (wings), fused in pairs, about 2-2.8 cm across, basal lobes elliptic oblong, about 1.3-1 cm across, distal lobes narrow elliptic to semi-ovate, about 1.9 x 1.1 cm across. Stamens are 5, anthers bi-locular. Stems are erect, simple or sparsely branched, hairless. Leaves are alternate, oblong-elliptic to lanceshaped-elliptic, about 2-15 x 0.6-4 cm across, base wedge-shaped or shortly narrowed, margins rounded toothed-toothed, tip tapering, lateral veins about 6-12 on either side of the midrib, dark green above and paler beneath, minutely velvet-hairy both above and beneath, leaf-stalk stout, hairless, about 1-3 cm long. Capsule is narrow spindle-shaped or linear, swollen in the middle, about 1-1.3 cm long, hairless, does not split open. Handsome East-Himalayan Balsam is native to East Himalaya, SC China, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, at altitudes of 600-2700 m. Flowering: August-October.