Horned Balsam is a robust plant, growing to 3 ft tall, with pinkish mauve flowers, to 3 cm long, with an orange yellow and purple-dotted throat. Flowers have a broad cylindrical lower sepal abruptly narrowed to a slender, curved spur about 8 mm long. Wings of the flowers have slender horn-like points, and short rounded side-lobes. Upper petal has a narrow point. Narrow elliptic leaves, to 20 cm long, have coarsely and regularly rounded-toothed margin and a tail-like tip. Flowering: June-September.