Impatiens bicolor Royle, Ill. bot. Himal. Mts. 1(5):151. 1835; 2(2): t. 28. 1834 as per efi thread and Flora of Pakistan;
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Impatiens3 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (1)
Please help in ID of this Impatiens species. Picture taken at sub-tropical Jammu.

Picture is small, but with rosa upper petal and yellow lower sepal and and least part of lateral petals it looks like Impatiens bicolor.



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Impatiens bicolor from near Banihal towards Ramban J & K Road-GS300618 : 11 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (5)
Impatiens bicolor Royle, Illustr. Bot. Himal. 151. t. 28. 1834
Syn: I. amphorata var. umbrosa Hook.f.
Glabrous annual herb up to 70 cm tall; leaves elliptic-ovate to elliptic, up to 12 cm long, margin crenate-dentate, apex acuminate, petiole 2-4 cm long with basal sessile glands; flowers in subumbellate racemes, yellow with rose coloured upper lip; pedicel up to 2 cm long elongating to 2,5 cm in fruit; bract ovate about 3 cm long;lateral sepals 3-4 mm long, green, broadly ovate, subcordate, acpiculate, lower sepal broadly conical gradually narrowed into incurved spur about 10 mm long; anterior petal broadly orbicular about 8 x 15 mm rose pink; capsule cylindrical, erect, 2-3 cm long.
Photographed between Banihal and Ramban on J & K road, alt. about 1500 m, July 18, 2013
There is one image of this species uploaded by Dr. Anzar Khuroo in our database.
This also puts a doubt on the identity of I. bicolor uploaded on Flowers of India. To me it appears some other species.

Thanks …, for this wonderful catch. This certainly agrees with the attached illustration here. I will have a relook at the plant on FOI. Attachments (1)


There seem to be two distinct forms of Impatiens bicolor, as seen in the two attached illustrations.
They may be different varieties of Impatiens amphorata as described in Flora of British India vol I, page 475-476, later merged into Impatiens bicolor.
Comments are welcome.
Attachments (2)


I think the following is a good resolution to this problem (conjectured by Wojciech Adamowski).
  • The two attached drawings were initially considered as different varieties of Impatiens amphorata.
  • However, the two look very different – apart from the color, the shape of the lower sepal is different.
  • The plant in the drawing labeled Plate 6550 looks very close to the recently described Impatiens devendrei.
  • Unfortunately Hooker later decided to treat them as same, and merged them into Impatiens bicolor.
  • In the West the Pink-Yellow one (what … found in J&K) has become common as I. bicolor, and is available in nurseries too. However, the plant in Plate6550 was sort of abandoned.
  • As the plant in Plate 6550 ls different from the pink-yellow one, this was described as a new species, Impatiens devendrei.
For comparison I am attaching 3 images of the flowers found in Dhanolti and Narkanda. As you can see, they agree with the drawing in Plate6550, and also agree with Impatiens devendrei.
Attachments (5)

I think you are right … Almost similar conclusions in my this thread with similar images especially your last one. efi thread


Thanks … for opening up the topic. After sending you confirmed images of I. bicolor to you last week I was all the time wondering what would be the plant which was earlier on Flowers of India as I. bicolor. I think that plant as well as my images Chakrata which I was unsure between I. amphorata and I. sulcata, and regarding which there were useful feedback from Wojciech, a well known authority, we can safely say these images belong to I. davendrae.

… you can remove ? after I. davendrae regarding my images.

Thanks, … I will certainly have a look and do the needful pl. Thanks, for the wonderful discussions.


I was busy whole summer and had no enough time to answer to this post.
This plant look like “true” I. bicolor, with bicolored, yellow and rosa flowers – like in old illustration.
I think it match actual meaning of the species.
However, I don’t have field experience in Western Himalaya nor access to other materials, so please treat this as my private opinion.
Recently Flora of Uttarakhand with Balsaminaceae was published – I am very curious how this problem is treated there…

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Impatiens bicolor: 1 image.
Location: Rajouri, j and k


Yes it is.
Diagonastic characters: Leaves elliptic to elliptic-ovate, crenate-dentate; Flowers pink and yellow, Lower sepal broad conical, ending in a spur less than 1 cm.
Distribution: NW. Himalayas, Nepal and Pakistan, India: Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Kumaon

Any other images?


No, I don’t.



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Confusion with Impatiens bicolor: I am greatly confused with Impatiens bicolor Royle (=I. amphorata Edgew.)…
The species comes from western and central Himalaya, according to some sources from NE Afghanistan, N Pakistan to Nepal.
Original illustration of I. bicolor Royle depicts plant with bicolored, yellow and rosa flowers
Also Flora of Pakistan depicts bicolored, yellow-rosa flowers
The same form is rare in cultivation in Europe (see photo on second page)
Plants with bicolored, yellow-rosa flowers were recently found in Portland, Oregon, USA
However, on webpage Flowers of India flowers have no yellow color at all
One of these photos is very similar to photo described as I. pseudobicolor in Mr. Impatiens website
mrimpatiens pseudobicolor cedric basset.jpg 
Impatiens amphorata from Mr. Impatiens webpage – here also no yellow color
mrimpatiens.jpg  
Compare these pictures with I. devendrae
Almost identical shape of flower, even some orange/reddish markings on lateral petals. Only difference seems to be color, in the case of I. bicolor sensu Flowers of India less or more rosa/pink. Any opinions?There is also synonym (I. bicolor sensu De Wild) but this is African species, I. congolensis or group of species comprising I. niamniamensis, I. congolensis and I. densifolia (as far as I understand). 

There seem to be two distinct forms of Impatiens bicolor, as seen in the two attached illustrations. The most noticeable difference is in the color. But there appears to be a difference in the sac-like sepal too.
They may be different varieties of Impatiens amphorata as described in Flora of British India vol I, page 475-476, later merged into Impatiens bicolor. Flora of British India also mentions a Impatiens amphorata var. pallens which has a revolute spur. This seems to agree with the attached image of the balsam we found in Dhanolti.
I hope somebody can throw more light on this.
Attachments (3)


I think this got resolved in another thread!



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