Rugged Yellow Balsam (Impatiens scabrida)

flowers of Himalaya

Rugged Yellow Balsam

Scabby Balsam 

Botanical name: Impatiens scabrida

Family: Balsaminaceae (Balsam family)

Synonyms: Impatiens cristata

Rugged Yellow Balsam is a rather robust often much branched plant with large lemon yellow flowers spotted with brown within. Flowers are borne several in each axil, 3-4 cm long, with a broad funnel-shaped lower sepal suddenly contracted to a slender spur 1.5-3 cm long. Upper petal is rounded and spurred. Lateral sepals pubescent, ovate-suborbiculate, 5-7 x 4-7 mm, sometimes mottled brown-black. The short-stalked leaves are 5-15 cm, elliptic to lacelike, long pointed, with acute teeth. Stem is finely hairy, 2-4 ft tall. Rugged Yellow Balsam is found in shrubberies, forests and damp places, at altitudes of 1200-3600 m, from Kashmir to Bhutan. 
Flowering: May-September.

Pic:Uttarakhand 09