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Impatiens chinensis L.

Synonym	:	Balsamina heterophylla G. Don
Family	:	Balsaminaceae
Local name	:	English- Chinese balsam Malayalam-  Paily,Oonapoovu
Distribution	:	India and China
Distribution in Kerala	:	Palakkad, Idukki, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Wayanad
Habitat	:	Marshy places near paddy fields, grassy slopes and moist places.
Uses		Used in folk medicine and traditional Chinese medicine
Key botanical characters:  Annual herbs, 10-60 cm high; stems erect from a prostrate rooting base, angled, glabrescent or villous. Leaves opposite, 3-7 x 0.5-1.5 cm, linear-oblong or lanceolate, acute or rounded at base, serrate at margin, villous above, glaucous beneath, pinkish-nerved; subsessile; stipules subulate, recurved, glandular; pedicels 3-5 cm long, deflexed in fruit. Flowers axillary, solitary or in fascicles, 1.2-2.5 cm across, rose or pink. Lateral sepals linear or falcate, acute with a callous point, ca 8 mm long. Lip cymbiform, ca 1.2 x 0.7 cm, slender, incurved; spur to 3.5 cm long. Standard orbicular, acuminate or horned. Wings orbicular or obovate, auricled at base. Capsules ellipsoid, tapering at both ends, 1.2-1.8 cm long; seeds oblong, shining, black.