• Family : Balsaminaceae
  (Balsam Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : GUL-MEHNDI FAMILY (गुलमेंहदी फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Balsaminaceae
• Synonym(s) : Balsamina tricornis (Lindl.) Ser.; Impatiens praetermissa Hook.f.; Impatiens punctata Wall. ex Hook.f. & Thomson
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Impatiens tricornis Lindl.
• Common name : Three-Horned Balsam, Scabby Balsam
• Vernacular name : Areli, Tiuri jhar (Nepali)
• Habit : Herb
• Habitat : Forest understories, thickets along riverbanks, shaded moist places
• Key identification features : Plants annual, 30-50 cm tall, rarely taller. Stem erect, green or purple-tinged basally, many branched, pubescent or subglabrous basally. Leaves alternate, sessile or subsessile; petiole with 2 globose basal glands; leaf blade ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 5-15 × 1.5-2 cm, apices of teeth with marginal glands, abaxially pubescent, adaxially sparsely strigose, lateral veins 7-9 pairs, base subrounded, margin sharply serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences in leaf axils, 1-3-flowered, shortly pedunculate; pedicels bracteate at middle; peduncles, pedicels, and bracts brown pubescent; bracts persistent, setose or setose-lanceolate, apex long mucronulate. Flowers golden-yellow, purple spotted, ca. 2.5 cm deep. Lateral sepals 2, ovate, sparsely pubescent, apex mucronulate. Lower sepal broadly funnelform, abruptly narrowed into a curved spur ca. 1 cm. Upper petal broadly orbicular, abaxial midvein green, cornute-cristate, crista conspicuous in flowering buds; lateral united petals not clawed, 2-lobed; basal lobes orbicular, short; distal lobes oblong-dolabriform; auricle inflexed, narrow. Anthers obtuse. Capsule linear, 2.5-3 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy.
• Flower, Fruit : July-September
• Distribution :
  • Uttarakhand : Dehradun district
• Native : India, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Tibet, West Himalaya
• Exotic/Native : Native
• Literature : Photographs of K. Sankara Rao
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Navendu Page, Deepak Kumar (2020). Pan India Bouquets. http://flora-peninsula-indica.ces.iisc.ac.in/pan/plants.php?name=Impatiens tricornis. Downloaded on 2 July 2022.

Field Image(s)