Impatiens drepanophora - Purple Sickle-Bearing Balsam

Sickle-Bearing Balsam is an annual, robust herb about 1 m tall. Flowers are pale purple, about 3.5 cm deep; buds ovoid. There is also a more common yellow form. Lateral sepals 2, greenish, sickle shaped, about 2 mm, with tips like long antennas. Lower sepal is constricted into an involute-incurved spur; tip green, long horned. Upper petal is spurred; lateral united petals clawed; basal lobes red spotted, narrowly oblong; distal lobes oblong-axe-shaped. Flowers are borne in 5-10-flowered racemes in leaf-axils or at branch-ends. Flowers-cluster-stalks are spreading, 7-10 cm. Flower-stalks are 1.5-2 cm, slender, with bracts at base. Bracts fall off, are ovate-lanceshaped, gland-tipped. Stem is round, branched, hairless. Leaves are alternate; leaf-stalk up to 5 cm. Leaves are ovate-lanceshaped, 6-13 x 2-4 cm, with 2 stipitate basal glands, hairless, lateral veins 7-9 pairs, base wedge-shaped, tip tapering. Capsule is club-shaped. Sickle-Bearing Balsam is found in Assam, China South-Central, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Tibet, at altitudes up to 2000-2200 m.