Impatiens scabrida - Rough Yellow Balsam

Rough Yellow Balsam is a plant closely similar to the Three-Horned Balsam but with smaller flowers. Lower sepal is boat-shaped or funnel-shaped, 9-12 mm long, 5.5-8 mm deep (excluding the spur), tapering into a long upwardly or downwardly curved spur. Spur is 1.7-2.5 cm in overall length. Flowers are golden-yellow, up to 2.5 cm deep. Lateral sepals 2, round, finely velvet-hairy on veins, 5-veined. Upper petal is round, lower midvein crested; lateral united petals not clawed, 2-lobed; basal lobes round; distal lobes oblong-dolabriform; ear inflexed, narrow. It is an annual herb, 30-80 cm tall, sparsely or densely velvet-hairy. Stem is erect, robust, branched. Leaves are alternate; leaf-stalk 1-2.5 cm, with 2 large spherical basal glands; leaf blade lanceshaped or ovate-lanceshaped, 5-10 x 2-3.5 cm, both surfaces velvet-hairy, lateral veins 9-11 pairs, base wedge-shaped, narrowed into leaf-stalk, margin sawtoothed, tip tapering. Flowers are borne in short, (1 or)2-5-flowered clusters, carried on flower-cluster-stalks 5-15 mm. Flower-stalks are slender, bracteate at middle; bracts bristly or bristly-lanceshaped, hairy. Capsules are linear, 2.5-3 cm, hairy. Rough Yellow Balsam is found in forest understories, along canals, in the Himalayas, at altitudes of 2000-3100. Flowering: July-September.