<p><strong>Two new species of<em> Impatiens</em> (Balsaminaceae) from the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India</strong></p>

Abstract

Impatiens palniensis and I.tamilnadense are two new species described and illustrated from the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. Impatiens palniensis collected from Palni hills (Kodaikkanal Wildlife Sanctuary) whereas I. tamilnadense from Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary. The detailed description of both taxa along with diagnostic characters between closely allied species, conservation status, pollen morphology and colour photographs are provided.

Notes on the extended distribution of Impatiens megamalayana, a recently described balsam in Western Ghats, India

“…Nayar et al (2014) enumerated 106 taxa of Impatiens from the Western Ghats of which 97 are exclusive endemics. More than 30 species have been discovered from various parts of the Western Ghats during the last 10 years (Kumar et al 2011;Dessai & Janarthanam 2011;Narayanan et al 2011Narayanan et al , 2012aNarayanan et al ,b, 2013Hareesh et al 2015a;Prabhukumar et al 2015aPrabhukumar et al ,b, 2016Prabhukumar et al , 2017Ramasubbu et al 2015aRamasubbu et al ,b, 2017Ramasubbu et al , 2020aChhabra et al 2016;Bhaskar & Sringeswar 2017;Manudev et al 2017;Mani & Thomas 2017;Mani et al 2018Mani et al , 2020Arigela et al 2019;Salish et al 2019;Subbiah & Vellingiri 2019;Vishnu et al 2020Vishnu et al & 2021Arya et al 2021). Impatiens species are usually seen in open, wet grasslands and rocky hill slopes at higher elevations and are highly sensitive to micro-climatic conditions.…”