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Roing Balsam
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Roing Balsam
A Native Photo: Tabish
Common name: Roing Balsam
Botanical name: Impatiens roingensis    Family: Balsaminaceae (Balsam family)

Roing Balsam is an annual herb, up to 50-60 cm tall. It is a newly discovered species, described in 2016. It is named after the Roing town in Lower Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh. Flowers are borne in leaf-axils, in 2- or 3-flowered clusters; bracts 2-3 mm long, linear. Flower-stalks are 1.5-2.5 cm long, hairless, pale green or pale pink. Flowers are 3.4-3.6 x 2-2.2 cm, white, with yellow spot in throat; lateral sepals 4, hairless, pale green or pale pink. Outer sepals 2, 3.5-6 x 2.5-3 mm, ovate, tip tapering; inner sepals 2, 2.5-3.5 x 2-2.5 mm, nearly ovate, tip tapering. Dorsal petal 1.3-1.5 x 1.3-1.6 cm, broadly ovate, above slightly keeled, hairless, white, beak not prominent or absent; keel with a short sharp point; mucro about 0.2 mm long; lateral united petals 2.6-3 x 2.5-2.8 cm, two-lobed; basal lobe 8-10 x 5-7 mm, ovate, tip blunt, white; distal lobe 15-18 x 6-8 mm, oblong, tip rounded or blunt, white; dorsal ear 3-4 x 2 mm, rounded; lower sepal 1.6-2.0 x 1.2-1.5 cm, funnel-shaped, with shrunken middle part, hairless, white with yellow spot within; spur 1.4-1.6 cm long, cylindrical, deeply curved, tip notched, hairless, pale yellow or white. Stem is nearly round, hairless, green; internodes 4-8 cm long, green, hairless. Leaves are alternate, stalked; leaf-stalk 1-5.5 mm long, with glands, hairless, pale green. Leaf blade is 5.5-14 x 1.8-5.8 cm, ovate-elliptic, base wedge-shaped, margins deeply sawtoothed, serrations apiculate, tip tapering, green, leathery, below pale green, above dark green; lateral nerves 9 or 10 on each side, prominent. Capsules are ellipsoid, 3-3.6 x 0.5-0.7 cm long, hairless, green; seeds, 2-3 x 1.5-2 mm, obovoid. Roing Balsam is known only from the lower Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh. Flowering: May-September.

Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh.

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