Impatiens trilobata Colebr. in Hook., Exot. Fl. 2: t. 141. 1825; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 451. 1874 & in Rec. Bot. Surv. India 4: 13. 1905; Biswas, Pl. Darj. Sikkim Himal. 1: 203. 1966. I. flavida Hook. f. & Thomson in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 4: 127. 1860; Hook. f., l.c. 1: 452. 1874.

Herbs, annual, up to 75 cm high, alternately branched, glabrous; nodes swollen. Leaves opposite or whorled, elliptic, or ovate-lanceolate, shortly attenuate at base, acute or caudate-acuminate at apex, shallowly serrate along margins, each serration with a filiform appendage, appendage at base of lamina up to 2 mm long, 2.5 - 10 x 1.3 - 1.8 cm, pubescent; lateral nerves 4 - 8 pairs; petiole long below, almost absent above; stipules large tufts of soft cilia. Flowers purple-red or bright violet-purple; peduncles horizontal, 2 - 4.5 cm long, 3 - 5-flowered, shorter than leaves; pedicels 8 - 15 mm long; bracts lanceolate, minute, subsetaceous, ca 3 mm long. Lateral sepals ovate-lanceolate, 5 - 6 x 2 - 3 mm. Lip variable, saccate, obtuse or conical, 1.3 - 1.6 cm long, with network markings; spur abruptly constricted, curved, 0.8 - 1 cm long. Standard obcordate, emarginate, dorsally gibbous, 1 - 1.2 x 0.6 - 0.8 cm, deep-violet, spurred on back. Wings shallowly 2-lobed, 1.5 - 2 cm long, yellow; basal lobes ovate-triangular, entire, 7 - 8 x 4 - 6 mm, pale violet; distal lobes broadly elliptic to kidney-shaped, 0.8 - 1.1 x 0.6 - 1 cm, violet; dorsal auricle present. Capsules turgid in middle, 1.2 - 17 cm, glabrous.

Fl. & Fr. July - Oct.

Distrib. India: W. Bengal, Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Bangladesh and Myanmar.

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