Impatiens microstachys Hook. fil.

Plants annual, 30-60 cm tall, slender, glabrous. Stem erect, laxly branched. Leaves alternate; petiole short, 0.5-1.5 cm, basal glands absent; leaf blade pale green abaxially, dark green adaxially, ovate or ovate-oblong, 4-8 cm, rigid, without or with 1-3 basal glands, lateral veins 6 or 7 pairs, base acute, margin crenate or crenate-serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences in upper leaf axils, 3-5-flowered; peduncles spreading or curved, ca. as long as leaves, fibrous. Pedicels 0.5-1 cm, elongate at fruiting, bracteate at base; bracts very small, setose. Flowers spreading, yellowish, small, ca. 1 cm deep. Lateral sepals 2, ovate-orbicular, 3-4 mm, membranous, 5-veined, apex obtuse. Lower sepal funnelform, 1.3-1.5 cm deep, gradually narrowed into an incurved spur ca. 3 × as long as limb; mouth vertical, tip acute. Upper petal orbicular, ca. 6 mm in diam., base cordate, apex retuse, abaxial midvein fine, not thickened; lateral united petals not clawed, ca. 5 mm, 2-lobed; basal lobes orbicular; distal lobes small; auricle ?absent. Filaments linear; anthers acuminate. Ovary erect, fusiform. Capsule erect or slightly curved, linear, ca. 2 cm. Seeds 5, brown, elliptic, 3.5-5 mm, glabrous, shiny. Fl. Aug-Sep, fr. Oct.

Sichuan (Emei Shan, Hongya).

● Forest understories on slopes, thickets, shaded moist places, roadsides; 2000-2500 m.