Impatiens laevigata var. laevigata - Smooth Himalayan Balsam

Smooth Himalayan Balsam is a much-branched shrub up to 1 m tall, with round, rough, fleshy stems, woody below, greenish red to dull green, warty and hairless. Leaves alternate, crowded near the stem tip, elliptic to narrowly inverted-lanceshaped, 7.5-19 x 4-6.5 cm, pointed or tail-tapering, with shallowly sawtoothed margins; leaf-stalks 3-7 cm long and lateral nerves 5-8 pairs. Flowers occur in 1-4-flowered, umbel-like in leaf-axils clusters on slender 0.8-1 cm stalks. Flowers are yellowish white, pink-tinged, with 1.5-2 cm stalks. Outer sepals are 1.1-1.2 x 0.3-0.4 cm, while inner sepals are 1.4-1.6 x 0.3-0.4 cm. The kidney-shaped standard is 1.5-1.6 x 2.2-2.3 cm. Lateral petals are pinkish yellow, streaked red. The lower sepal is broadly funnel-shaped, with a 1.3-1.4 cm wide mouth and a yellow, incurved spur 1.6-2.2 cm long. Capsules are linear, about 3 x 0.6 cm, green and ridged. It occurs in the Eastern Himalayas at 600-1500 m altitude and flowers during September-December.