Impatiens lenta Hook. f. in Hooker's Icon. Pl. ser. 4. 10: t. 2933. 1913, 'leita'; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 140. 1915.

Herbs, ca 20 cm high, glabrous; stems flaccid, simple, erect; internodes elongate. Leaves opposite, entire or remotely denticulate, 2 - 3 cm long; lower ones smaller, ovate, shortly petiolate; upper sessile or subsessile, oblong or ovate-oblong, truncate or cordate at base, acute at apex; midnerve strong below, lateral nerves obscure; glands at base of petiole minute, setaceous, detlexed. Flowers up to 2 cm across, pale violet; pedicels solitary, longer than leaves in fruits. Lateral sepals 2, narrowly linear, capillary at apex, 3-nerved. Lip cymbiform, acuminate, 0.3 - 1 cm long; spur thin, up to 1.6 cm long. Standard small, orbicular, 4 - 5 mm broad, cuspidate at apex, dorsally keeled. Wings 2-lobed, long-stipitate, ca 1.2 cm long; basal lobes small, placed on stipe, narrowly lanceolate, erect, ca 3 mm long; distal lobes large, obovate or broadly axe-shaped, erect, narrow at base, rounded at apex; dorsal auricle small, opposite basal lobes. Filaments subulate; anthers minute, narrow, acuminate. Capsules shortly stipitate narrowly ellipsoid, 1 - 1.2 cm, compressed, acutely long-beaked, 1 - 1.2 cm long, many-seeded; seeds minute, subglobose, ca 2 mm across, shining black.

Fl. & Fr. Not known.

Distrib. India: W. Ghats in Nilgiri mountains. Tamil Nadu.

Endemic.

Notes. Closely allied to I. tenella, but leaves are almost entire or remotely denticulate, pedicels much longer and glabrous and flowers larger with stipes of wings much longer.