Impatiens scapiflora Heyne ex Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 464. 1824; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 444. 1874.

Herbs, scapigerous, 15 - 45 cm high; rootstock tuberous. Leaves radical, orbicular, ovate or reniform with deep sinus, rounded base or oblique at base, rounded or acute at apex, crenate or serrate along margins, 5 - 15 x 3 - 12 cm, fleshy, hairy above, glabrous, pale, shining and green below; palmately nerved; petioles up to 15 cm long. Scapes racemose, many-flowered, 7 - 30 cm long. Flowers ca 2.5 cm across, pink; pedicels 1.5 - 2.5 cm long; bracts ovate, ca 3 mm long, fleshy. Lip saccate, ca 2.5 cm long, vaulted. Wings 3-lobed; lobes linear, falcate. Capsules fusiform, erect ca 1.2 cm long, glabrous; seeds hispid.

Fl. & Fr. July - Dec.

Distrib. India: W. Ghats. In the crevices of wet rocks and moist places of evergreen forests. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Chromosome no. n = 6,8,10 (Bhaskar, V. in Taxon 25(1): 155. 1976); n = 10 (S. Krishnaswamy et al. in South Indian Hort. 17 (1 & 2): 28 - 33 .1969).