Impatiens inayatii - Mollusc Balsam

Mollusc Balsam is an annual erect herb, 40-130 cm tall; hairless. It is named for Inayat Khan, head plant collector of the Botanical Department of N. India, who first collected this species in 1900. Flowers are borne in drooping racemes, upto 15 cm long, rising up at tip, 2-8 flowered. Flowers are large, upto 3 cm long, white and yellow with dark red rusty spots inside, stalked. Flower-cluster-stalks are slender, 5-14 cm long, hairless. Lateral sepals are one pair, green turning to translucent white with small red spots in mature flowers, ovate, 8 x 6 mm; appendaged at tip. Lower sepal is shaped like a mollusc, 2.5 × 3 cm; with oblique mouth, mouth with short beak, basal part yellow inside with red-brown spots, spur gradually constricted and curved inside such that it reaches depression formed at the base of lower sepal, 5 mm long. Dorsal petal white with small red spots on dorsal side, 1.1 x 1.5 cm, nearly round-inverted-heart-shaped; crested. Lateral united petals 0.8-1 x 3.2-3.5 cm with yellow splash and dark spots on sinus of basal and distal lobes; basal lobes broadly triangular; distal lobes narrowly ovate, narrowed just above the middle, shortly apiculate. Stem is hairless, green to dark purple, slightly swollen at nodes, upto 2 cm wide at the base and hollow inside. Leaves are thick leathery, hairless, alternate; leaf-stalks 0.5-6 cm long; blade ovate-elliptic to ovate-lanceshaped or elliptic-oblong, 15-25 x 5-8 cm, base narrowed, margins rounded toothed to deeply rounded toothed with glandular cusps, tip tapering; main lateral veins 7-10 pairs. Few to many small thread-like glands at the base of leaf-stalk and mostly on the apical branches, 1-2.5 mm long. Capsules are linear, pointed, 3-4 cm long. Mollusc Balsam is found in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand (Sosa, Kali valley) and far West Nepal, in temperate to sub-alpine forests, at altitudes of 2600-3730 m. Flowering: July-October.