Impatiens dimorphophylla Franch.

Plants annual, slender, 20-30 cm tall, glabrous. Stem erect, green or purple-tinged, slender, simple or branched; branches spreading, short. Leaves alternate; leaf blade membranous. Lower leaves with petiole long, ca. 3 cm; leaf blade ovate or ovate-oblong, 5-7 × 2.5-3 cm, with stipitate glands at basal margin, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, base attenuate into petiole, margin crenate, teeth mucronulate, apex acute or acuminate. Upper leaves subsessile; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, 4-7 × 2.5-3 cm, base cuneate or slightly cordate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences in upper leaf axils, usually 1(or 2)-flowered; peduncles shorter than petioles, 1-3 cm. Pedicels short, 5-10 mm, bracteate below flowers; bracts persistent, ovate, ca. 2 mm, with stipitate glands at basal margin, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs. Flowers orange, large, 2.5-3 cm deep. Lateral sepals 4; outer 2: ovate-oblong or orbicular, 4-7 mm, 1-veined, cuspidate; inner 2: same as outer ones in shape, but 1/2 as large, 1-veined. Lower sepal saccate, 1.5-2 cm deep, mouth oblique, ca. 1.5 cm wide, tip acute, abruptly narrowed into an incurved spur; spur short, ca. 5 mm, with a groove or 2-fid. Upper petal orbicular or obcordate, ca. 9 mm, abaxial midvein fine, carinate below apex; lateral united petals ± clawed, ca. 1.7 cm, 2-lobed; basal lobes oblong, small; distal lobes broadly dolabriform, apex rounded, apically retuse; auricle inflexed, narrow. Filaments linear, short; anthers ovoid, apex obtuse. Ovary erect, ovoid-orbicular. Capsule linear, 3-5 cm, apex rostellate. Fl. Sep-Oct.

SW Sichuan, Yunnan.

● Understories of alpine Pinus or Tsuga forests; 2800-3400 m.