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

Yellow Kumaon Balsam is an annual erect herb, 75 cm tall, velvet-hairy. It was recently (2025) rediscovered after a gap of 138 years. Flowers are yellow. Lateral sepals 2, obliquely ovate, 6-8 mm long, as broad, pointed to tapering, membranous. Lower sepal is shallowly boat-shaped or funnel-shaped, 2-2.5 cm long; 1.2-1.4 cm deep; with oblique mouth, spur gradually constricted, thread-like, curved, 1.2-1.5 cm long. Upper petal oblong or oblate, 1.2-1.4 cm across, back/dorsally green with velvet-hairy crest on midvein. Lateral united petals 1.5-2 cm long; basal lobes more or less rounded, distal lobes elongated-dolabriform with rounded ear and bluntly elongated-apiculate lower lobe, brown spotted. Inflorescence is velvet-hairy, covered with trichomes, 3-6 flowered, in leaf-axils, stalked racemes; bracts linear, velvet-hairy with prominent trichomes, 4-6 mm long; flower-cluster-stalks slender, 3-5 cm long, velvet-hairy or finely velvet-hairy; flower-stalks bracteate, 6-10 mm long; bracteole linear-bristly, 3-5 mm long. Leaves are alternate; leaf-stalk 1-4 cm long with a pair of round glands at the base of leaf-stalk; blade elliptic or obovate, 5-18 x 2-5.5 cm, base gradually narrowed, margins rounded toothed, tip tapering, velvet-hairy, main lateral veins 11-14 pairs. Capsules are linear, 2.5-4 cm long, erect; seeds oblong, brown, 3-4 mm long, tuberculate. Yellow Kumaon Balsam is found in Kumaon, Uttarakhand, in temperate forests, at altitudes of 2000-2300 m. Flowering: July-October.

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The flower labeled Yellow Kumaon Balsam is ...