Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

33. Balsaminaceae, the Touch-me-not Family

1. Impatiens L. -- Touch-me-not

1. Impatiens capensis Meerb. -- Spotted touch-me-not

Plants 4-10 dm tall, usually branched and often spreading above. Leaf blades ovate to elliptic, 3-9 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, acute to obtuse and minutely apiculate at the tip, shallowly and remotely serrate, cuneate to rounded at the base; petioles longest on lower leaves, shorter upward, mostly 0.5-6 cm long. Flowers orange-yellow, unspotted or usually with reddish-brown spots, 1.5-2.5 cm long, the spur recurved parallel to the sac, 1/3 to 1/2 its length, the sac conic, longer than wide. Capsules ca. 2 cm long, explosively dehiscent. Jul--Sep. Swamps, springs, stream banks, shores and boggy places, often where wooded; frequent in e and nc ND, e and sw SD and NE; (Newf. and Que. to Sask., s to FL, AL, and TX.). I. biflora Walt.


Impatiens capensis, with enlarged flower.

Return to Family -- Cornaceae - The Dogwood Family
Next Section -- Impatiens pallida Nutt. -- Pale touch-me-not

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