Pale Touch-Me-Not (Jewelweed)

Photo of pale touch-me-not or jewelweed flowers.
Scientific Name
Impatiens pallida
Family
Balsaminaceae (touch-me-nots)
Description

Soft plants, much-branched, with watery stems. Flowers lemon yellow, occasionally with reddish spots; shaped like a cornucopia; with 3 unequal sepals, 2 of them small, the third a sack with a spur; 5 petals, appearing as 3 (as the laterals are joined), each with 2 lobes; stamens joined to the stigma; each flower hanging from a slender stem. The conical portion of the flower is about as long as it is wide. Blooms June–September. Leaves alternate, soft, egg-shaped, bluish-green, coarsely toothed, to 3½ inches long. Fruit a slender capsule which, upon drying or when touched, contracts, coils, and splits explosively, casting seeds far away in all directions.

Similar species: Spotted touch-me-not (I. capensis) usually has orange flowers with red or reddish-brown spots, and the conical portion of the flower is usually about twice as long as it is wide, with a longer spur. Without seeing the flowers, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the two species.

Size

Height: to 5 feet.

Where To Find
image of Pale Touch-Me-Not Jewelweed distribution map

Statewide.

Damp, low woods; banks of streams, rivers and springs; swampy places; edges of ponds; ravine bottoms; bases of bluffs. Our two species of jewelweeds are often found growing together, but apparently they do not hybridize. They both have different pollinators: Pale touch-me-not is visited by bumblebees, spotted touch-me-not by hummingbirds. Also, the flowers that produce the most seeds are ones that never open fully and are thus self-pollinating.

Many believe that rubbing the juice from the foliage on the skin will prevent and even cure a poison ivy infection as well as take the sting out of stinging nettle and the itch from chigger bites. Native Americans had many medicinal uses for these plants. Today people cultivate them as ornamentals.

See above for jewelweed's interesting pollination biology. The genus name, Impatiens, should be familiar to gardeners, as jewelweeds are in the same genus as the extremely popular landscaping flowers known by that name. The leaves are very similar, and the flowers have the same little "spur."

Media Gallery
Photo of pale touch-me-not or jewelweed flowers.
Except for flower color, our two Missouri jewelweeds are virtually indistinguishable. Pale touch-me-not is the one with the lemon-yellow flowers!
Anonymous
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pale touch-me-not
Photo by MDC Staff, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation.
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Photo of pale touch-me-not or jewelweed flowers.
pale touch-me-not
Similar Species

Where to See Species

About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!