Botanical name: Impatiens serrulata    Family: Balsaminaceae (Balsam family)

White Kumaon Balsam is an annual herbs hairless, 2-60 cm tall. Flowers are creamy white, with red streaks and spots around the throat of lateral united petals, spurless, 11-15 x 6-8 mm. Lateral sepals are lanceshaped, 3-4 x 2-2.5 mm; lower sepal boat-shaped, 6-7 x 3-4 mm, 2-3 mm deep, spurless, with a pointed tip about 1 mm long. Dorsal petal is hoodlike, about 5 x 4-5 mm, with a pointed greenish crest 1-1.5 mm high. Lateral petals are united, 8-11 x 3-4 mm; upper lobe about 3 x 3 mm, lower lobe about 4 x 2.5 mm. Flowers are borne in 1-3-flowered clusters, carried on flower-cluster-stalks 5-10 mm long. Bracts are two, unequal, needle-shaped, 2-2.5 mm long. Stems are branched, round, with swollen lower nodes, light purple to green. Leaves are alternate, stalked; leaf-stalks 2-3 mm long, with basal glands 0.5-1 mm long; blades broadly lanceshaped to ovate, usually 2.5-8 × 1-3.5 cm, smaller in small morphs, pointed at base, sawtoothed to minutely toothed along margins, tapering to pointed tips, with 8-11 veins. Capsules are linear, hanging, hairless, 1.8-4.5 cm long. White Kumaon Balsam appears to be endemic to the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, at altitudes of 3100-3500 m. Flowering: July-September.

Your name:
Your email:
Your comments
The flower labeled White Kumaon Balsam is ...