The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Impatiens noli-tangere
Also called Jewelweed, Touch-me-not, Wild Balsam, Yellow Balsam, Western jewel-weed, Western Touch Me Not, Balsam
Impatiens noli-tangere is an annual wildflower native to damp woodland edges, stream banks and wet ground across temperate Europe, Asia and North America. Its key to growing it is consistently moist soil in partial shade, since it dislikes drying out.
Impatiens noli-tangere (touch-me-not balsam; Latin impatiēns 'impatient' or 'not allowing', and nōlī tangere 'do not touch': literally 'be unwilling to touch') is an annual herbaceous plant in the family Balsaminaceae found in damp places in Europe, Asia and North America. The yellow flowers are followed by pods which forcefully explode when ripe, ejecting the seeds for some distance.
It is also called touch-me-not, yellow balsam, jewelweed, western touch-me-not, or wild balsam.
Impatiens arguta · Spotted snapweed · Jewelweed · Impatiens denisonii · Himalayan Balsam · New Guinea Impatiens · Hardy Impatiens · Pale touch-me-not · Impatiens pseudoviola · Ceylon Balsam · Impatiens stenantha · Impatiens tinctoria
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Impatiens noli-tangere by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
