Impatiens stenantha Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 478. 1875 & in Rec. Bot. Surv. India 4: 17. 1905; Biswas, Pl. Darj. Sikkim Himal. 1: 213. 1966; H. Hara in Fl. E. Himal. 1: 197. 1966 & 2: 75. 1971.

Herbs, erect, up to 60 cm high; stems branched, glabrous. Leaves lanceolate or elliptic-ovate, shortly attenuate at base, acute to acuminate at apex, crenate along margins with filiform appendages on crenations, 2.5 - 15 x 1.5 - 4.7 cm, under-surface whitish, black or reddish on drying, pubescent; lateral nerves 6 - 12 pairs; petioles 1.5 - 3.5 cm long; stipular glands sessile or stipitate. Racemes axillary or terminal; peduncles shorter or longer than leaves. Flowers 1.5 - 2.5 cm, yellow, speckled with red. Lateral sepals 4, ovate, incurved at base, acuminate, 3 - 5 x 2 - 2.5 mm. Lip shallowly and rather oblicuely navicular, 0.7 - 1 cm long; spur abruptly constricted, gradually tapering to apex, 1.5 - 1.8 cm long. Standard elliptic-oblanceolate, shallowly emarginate, 6 - 8 x 4 - 5 mm. Wings bilobed, 1.5 - 1.8 cm long; basal lobes triangular, 1.5 - 1.7 x 0.4 - 0.5 cm; distal lobes linear, acute, recurved or twisted, 0.8 - 1 cm. Capsules clavate, 1.2 - 2 cm long, glabrous; seeds obovoid, compressed.

Fl. & Fr. July- Nov.

Distrib. India: E. Himalayas, ca 1500 - 3000 m. W. Bengal, Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Manipur.

Nepal, Bhutan and China.

Notes. Two varieties ofthis species proposed by J.D. Hooker (Fl. Brit. India 1: 478. 1875) have been subsequently merged by himself (Rec. Bot. Surv. India 4: 22.1905).

Chromosome no. 2n = 22 (Chatterjee, A. & A.K. Sharma in Nucleus 13: 179-200. 1970).