Impatiens trilobata - Trilobed Balsam

Trilobed Balsam is an annual erect herb, up to 2 ft tall, rooting at nodes on lower part of stem; stem slender about 8 mm in diameter, hairs glandular, curved, violet. Flowers are borne in leaf-axils, on flower-cluster-stalks about 3-4 cm long. Flowers are 2-5, about 2-2.5 cm in diameter, purple red; flower-stalks about 8-15 mm long; lateral sepals about 5-6 x 2-3 mm, ovate-lanceshaped; lip about 1.5 cm long, variable, sac-like, blunt or conical, with network markings; spur abruptly constricted about 1 cm long, curved. Standard petal is about 1 x 0.8 cm, inverted-heart-shaped, notched, dorsally gibbous, deep-violet, spurred on back; wings about 1.5-2 cm long, shallowly 2-lobed; basal lobes about 7-8 x 4-6 mm, ovate-triangular, entire, pale violet; distal lobes about 0.8-1.2 x 0.6-1 cm, violet, broadly elliptic to kidney-shaped; dorsal ear present. Leaves are simple, opposite or whorled; stipules large clusters of soft cilia; leaf-stalks about 5 cm long; blade about 2.5-9 x 1.5-4 cm, elliptic or ovate-lanceshaped, shortly narrowed at base, pointed or with a tail-tapering at tip, shallowly sawtoothed along margins, each serration with a thread-like appendage, velvet-hairy; secondary nerves 4-7 pairs. Capsules are about 1.2-1.7 cm, turgid in middle, hairless. Seeds pear-shaped. Trilobed Balsam is found in East Himalaya to Myanmar. Flowering: April-October.