Sickle Balsam

Plants annual, 20-60 cm tall, rarely taller. Stem erect or with procumbent branches, glabrous. Leaves alternate; petiole 5-10 cm, with 2 globose basal glands; leaf blade ovate-oblong, 2.5-5 × 1.5-2 cm, ciliate at base, lateral veins 6-8 pairs, base cuneate, margin sharply serrate, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, 1(or 2)-flowered; peduncles short, 0.6-2 cm. Pedicels bracteate at middle; bracts setose or narrowly lanceolate. Flowers spreading, yellow, red spotted or not, 2-2.5 cm deep. Lateral sepals 2, green, ovate or ovate-oblong, apex mucronulate. Lower sepal funnelform, narrowed into an incurved or erect spur 1-2 cm. Upper petal cucullate, orbicular, ca. 1 cm, apex mucronate, abaxial midvein thickened; lateral united petals clawed, 2.2-2.5 cm, 2-lobed; basal lobes ovate to orbicular, 5-6 mm, small; distal lobes large, broadly obovate, falcate basally, apex rounded; auricle absent. Filaments linear; anthers small. Capsule linear-cylindric, to 2 cm. Fl. Aug-Sep. 2n = 14.

Himalaya (Nepal, Sikkim).

S Xizang (Dinggyê, Nyalam) [Bhutan, India, Nepal].

2500-3400 m

Understories of Quercus forests, grasslands along riverbanks; 2300-3300 m.