Impatiens leptura Hook. f. Fl. Brit. India 1: 467.1875; C. Fischer in Bull. Misc. Inform. 1934: 391 - 393. 1934.

Herbs, erect, about 60 cm high, unbranched; stems somewhat angled, greenish. Leaves alternate, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at apex, cuneate at base, crenate along margins with short cilia in sinuses, 4.5 - 10 x 2.5 cm, midnerve slightly prominent below, lateral nerves in 5 pairs, rising almost at right angles to midnerve, glabrous with short and stiff hairs on nerves above, pale and subglaucous below; petioles 1 - 7 cm long. Peduncles axillary, 4 - 6.5 cm long, glabrous, 2 - 3-flowered; bracts ovate, ca 4 mm long, glabrous, green, deciduous; pedicels 1.5 - 2.5 cm long, fascicled. Flowers ca 2.5 cm across, pinkish. Lateral sepals broadly ovate, acute, 4.5 - 5.5 mm long, green. Lip bowl-shaped, acute, 1 - 1.3 cm long; spur slender, tapering, incurved. Standard broadly oblong, obtuse. Distal lobes of wings 6 - 7 mm long, green becoming pinkish at edges. Stamens yellow. Capsules ellipsoid, beaked, ca 1.5 cm long; seeds orbicular, pilose when young and glabrous when mature.

Fl. & Fr. May - Sept.

Distrib. India: Southern W. Ghats in Anamal1ais and High Ranges (ldukki dt.) in evergreen forest margins at an altitude of 1300 - 1650 m. Tamil Nadu and Kerala

Notes. Closely related to Impatiens cordata Wight.