Impatiens grandis Heyne ex Wallich in Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 464. 1824; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 463.1874. I. hookeriana Arn. in Hook. Companion Bot. Mag. 1: 324. 1834; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. India 1: 463. 1874.

Herbs, robust, often shrubby, erect, 1 - 2.75 m high; branches terete, glabrous with prominent leaf-scars. Leaves confined to apex of branches, alternate, ovate-lanceolate or elliptic, acute or rounded at base, acuminate at apex, incurved, bristly serrate, 8 - 21 x 3 - 8 cm, thick, prominently nerved; petiole 2 - 9.5 cm long with 2 pedicelled glands near apex. Flowers large in subumbellate clusters of 3 - 4 on long peduncles, pale rose or white. Lateral sepals obovate. Lip saccate, obtuse or prolonged into very stout ca 4 cm long, conical straight spur. Standard orbicular, cuneate, notched. Wings 2-lobed, spreading; basal lobes oblong-obovate; distal lobes larger than the basal ones, rounded, notched. Capsules ellipsoid, obscurely 4 - 5-angled, glabrous, 1.5 -2 cm long; seeds glabrous.

Fl. & Fr. Sept. - Nov. & March.

Distrib. Southern W. Ghats South of High Wavy Mountains, High Ranges and South Tirunelveli hills at an altitude of 950 m to 1700 m in densely forested ravines. Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Sri Lanka.

Notes. J. D. Hooker (1906) combined Impatiens hookeriana with this species. Bhaskar and Razi (Indian J. For. 1( 1): 76. 1978), however, has not accepted this merger.

Chromosome no. 2n = 20(Rao, R.V.S. in Proc. Indian Sci. Congr. sect. Bot. 60 (3): 137. 1973.