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Sticky Balsam
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Sticky Balsam
A Native Herb ovate Photo: Shrishail Kulloli
Common name: Sticky Balsam
Botanical name: Impatiens viscosa    Family: Balsaminaceae (Balsam family)

Sticky Balsam is an erect annual herb, 30-40 cm tall. Leaves are oppositely arranged, to 7 x 4 cm, pointed at either ends, rounded toothed, hairless; leaf-stalks 0.8-2 cm long, eglandular. Flower-cluster-stalks are 8-10 cm long, in leaf-axils. Flowers are pink, restricted to the branch-ends portion; flower-stalks 2 cm long, slender; lip 7 x 4 mm, ovate, tapering; spur 15 mm long, ensiform, pointed; sepals ovate, pointed; standard 4 x 4 mm, rounded at tip; wings 15 x 8 mm, 2-lobed; lower lobe very small; dorsal ear thread-like, 10 mm long, produced into the spur. Capsule 10 x 4mm, hairless; seeds many, 1 x 0.5 mm, densely hairy, dark-brown. Sticky Balsam is endemic to Southern Western Ghats. Flowering: August-December.

Identification credit: Shrishail Kulloli Photographed in Wayanad, Kerala.

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