Impatiens violoides

Impatiens violoides Edgew. ex Hook.f., Rec. Bot. Surv. India 4: 8 1904.;
.
Common name: Pansy Balsam
.

Impatiens violoides Edgew. ex Hook.f. submission AS1 April 2024: 7 high res. images.

I am happy to share our publication on rediscovery of rare steno-endemic Impatiens violoides Edgew. ex Hook.f. (Balsaminaceae) from Western Himalaya after 179 years of type collection. 
https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.644.1.6
Attached with this email I am sharing some images of this rare steno-endemic balsam species to be incorporated on the website.
Photographed in Rohru subdivision, Shimla district, Himachal Pradesh
In September 2024

/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Impatiens_serrata__belowChansil_Pass_3000m__5_.JPG

Fwd: Impatiens serrata : 3 posts by 2 authors.

This impatiens has been shot from below Chansil Pass in Shimla Distt.
The reply of … is as under.
Your plant don’t match exactly any of  Impatiens known from Himachal Pradesh (as far as I am able to check it). 
There are some similarities to I. serrata as only non-spurred species in this area, but at least some inflorescences of your plant are multiflowered.
You can try to contact …, who is working on the flora of Uttarakhand. His paper dealing with three new species of Impatiens from western Himalaya was posted on e-flora of India e-group.

This plant could be also I. violoides, described probably from nowadays Uttarakhand, however description of this species is veeeeery short with no information on colour of flowers and many other details. Below is original description by Hooker:

“The only specimens which I have seen are very imperfect. One in the Bentham Herbarium has a ticket inscribed ‘Impatiens Candida, Lindl., near Junglung, alt. 8-9,000 ft.’ I cannot find the localities named. I. Candida, Lindl., is a very different plant, a white flowered state of I. Roylei, Walp. The caphiform lip and absence of spur render I. violoides easy of recognition.”
So only clue is that I. violoides was recognized as white form of I. glandulifera, but has less or more shallow lower sepal and lacks spur.
In the key there is “Capsules deflexed, racemes short or umbelliform few-flowered” what looks similar to this plant.
I can’t find any picture of I. violoides, so all this is only my guess.

Impatiens violoides Edgew. ex Hook.f.

Is it’s id as Impatiens violoides correct?

Yes,these images are of Impatiens violodes Edgew. ex Hook. f.
The large white flowers with spurless navicular lowersepal makes it quite distinct and an easy to identify species.

This species is endemic to a small area/valley in Eastern Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh close to Uttarakhand state border. Infact the above images by the late Sh. Krishan Lal ji was also clicked from near same locality where I have collected the plants. For details please see our recent publication, as the paper is not open access so I can’t share it here but anyone interested can send me a request on researchgate or on email  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379666113_ Rediscovery_of_rare_steno-endemic_Impatiens_violoides_ Edgew_ex_Hookf_Balsaminaceae_from_Western_Himalaya_ after_179_years_of_type_collection

This is already submitted in the FoI !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *