E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of BC

Impatiens aurella Rydb.
orange touch-me-not (pale yellow jewelweed; paleyellow touch-me-not)
Balsaminaceae (Touch-me-not family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

Map

Distribution of Impatiens aurella
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Introduction

Orange touch-me-not is an annual native species of moist streambanks and meadows. Flowers are orange and unspotted with spurs and appear in the summer..

Species Information

General:
Annual succulent herb; stems erect to ascending, often branched, glabrous, 0.5-1.0 m tall.

Leaves:
Alternate, egg-shaped to elliptic, coarsely saw-toothed, 2-8 cm long.

Flowers:
One to several in the leaf axils, orange, unspotted, mostly 1.0-1.5 cm long; sepals pouched with spur curved or deflexed forward.

Fruits:
Capsules, elastically dehiscent, 1-2 cm long; many-seeded.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Illustration

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat and Range

Moist streambanks and meadows in the steppe or lower montane zones; rare in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains S of 55degreeN; S to ID and MT.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Status Information

Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Native	S4	Yellow	Not Listed

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer.

Taxonomic Keys

Taxonomic Key to Impatiens

1. Pouched sepals not spurred......................................I. ecalcarata

1. Pouched sepals spurred.

2. Leaves opposite or whorled (at least some of them), finely saw-toothed; flowers blue to purple or purplish-pink or sometimes white............................ I. glandulifera

2. Leaves alternate, coarsely saw-toothed; flowers orange or yellowish.

3. Spurs of the sepals straight, directed backward.......................................I. parviflora

3. Spurs of the sepals curved or hooked.

4. Flowers less than 2 cm long, without spots..........................I. aurella

4. Flowers more than 2 cm long, spotted, mottled or sparingly flecked.

5. Flowers orange, brown-spotted, or -mottled.........................I. capensis

5. Flowers yellow, sparingly flecked with brownish purple........................I. noli-tangere