Impatiens pasighatensis - Pasighat Balsam

Pasighat Balsam is an erect perennial herb, 50-80 cm tall. Flowers are 4.5-5.5 x 3.3-4 cm, white. Dorsal petal is 1.4-1.8 x 1.2-1.5 cm, broadly ovate-round, white with a pale purplish blotch in the middle, dorsally keeled and in middle crested with long beak or horn like appendage 1-1.5 cm long. Lateral united petals are bilobed; basal lobes 1-1.4 x 0.8- 1.1 cm, ovate, white with 2 dark purplish-red blotches in the middle, tip bifid or notched or blunt-rounded; distal lobes 2-2.5 x 0.6-1 cm, oblong or dolabriform, twisted or convoluted, white with purplish-red dots and yellow spot below ears, tip flat or notched; dorsal ears 2-3 x 1.5-2 mm, white, rounded. Lateral sepals are 4; outer sepals 2, 7-9.5 x 2.5-3 mm, oblong-narrow ovate, tip tapering, base flat, prominently keeled dorsally, hairless, pale purplish-green with green keeled portion; inner sepals are 2, 11.5-14 x 0.8-1.2 mm, linear, tip tapering, hairless, pale purple. Lower is sepal 2.8-3.6 x 1.5-2.2 cm, short bucciniform, inflated and wider above middle, constricted in middle, narrowed towards the base and constricted into a cylindrical spur, hairless, white with yellow blotches inside; spur 1.5-2 cm long, gradually incurved, tip round, hairless, white. Flowers are borne in leaf-axils, in 2-3-flowered clusters; bracts 3-5 mm long, linear. Flower-cluster-stalk is 1-1.5 mm long, flower-stalks are 3-3.5 cm long. Stem is round, hairless, green, swollen at nodes; internodes 3-9 cm long. Leaves are alternate, stalked, hairless; leaf-stalk 2-6 cm long, pale green with light purplish tinge; blade 3.5-9 x 2-4.5 cm, narrow elliptic-lanceshaped or elliptic-ovate, membranous, tip tapering, base wedge-shaped, margins rounded toothed-sawtoothed, green; lateral veins 5-7 pairs, alternate. Capsules are ellipsoid, 3-4 x 8-12 mm, 5-lobed, hairless, green. Pasighat Balsam is endemic to East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Flowering: January-April.