I was told that if you take this flower & boil it in a small amount of water & then pour the water along with the flower into ice cube trays and once frozen take a cube out & rub it over poison ivy on a human body that the poison ivy disappears...

Pale touch-me-not can be found at Lilydale Regional Park by Pickerel Lake. Squeeze the liquid from the plant stem of touch-me-not on skin that is itching from stinging nettle.

These are found on the West side of Medicine Lake at the beach.

The edge of the wooded area behind our house is covered with these plants. First we've noticed them to such an extent.

A nice big stand blooming SW of Fairfax in Minnesota River Valley (South side)

I came across this flower on the NCT north of Remer. While I was admiring them a small spider the exact color of the flower emerged. Thanks for this great site, I was able to identify right away.

Thank you so much for your great web site! I found this beautiful flower on the slopes behind our apt. building while looking for my cat who was also enjoying the flora and fauna! I was unable to identify it on any other site!

These appeared this year along side my driveway. Never had them in the yard before in the last 25 years. These plants are tall and thick.

I found a large number of these plants across the street in a wild area. They spread quickly from last year. The stem is hollow, I pulled a few of them out of the ground, it has a shallow root system and pulls out easily.

We came across a few of these along the Root River Trail in Lanesboro. Your site is amazing! I never would have figured out what these were :)

We have a section of our backyard that was taken over by some Pale Touch-Me-Nots. At the end of last summer, a "privy archaeologist" excavated several spots back there. These flowers came up in two of the areas of disturbed soil.

I what looks like a pink touch me not flower blooming now Oct. 28. It has three green leaves. It grows on slender stems from each leaf. It has a light throat with a top pedal, a dark pink tail at the back and 2 hot pink hearts at the lower bottom. It has the explosive pods of seeds like a touch me not that I've seen in orange flower. The ground has lots of Norway pine needles and it is in a wild woods in the back were I found it. The pink caught my eye, I'd not seen it before. We also have mottled leaf toad lily that grows wild here in the spring. What is this? I can't ID it on the web. Thank you for your time and effort.

Pam, there is the non-native pink Impatiens balfourii that escapes cultivation and is becoming rather invasive. Maybe that's what you saw.

Found along the trails at the quaking bog in theodore wirth park

Suddenly appeared on my sloped yard - a welcome change from the many invasives that grow there. I'm happy to have a native that will help fight the purple loosestrife, buckthorn, thistle, garlic mustard, reed canary grass, greater celandine and black raspberries.

I first saw this beautiful plant at a MN State Park in southeast Minnesota many years ago. About five years ago, I found a fre plants growing in our backyard. They have now spread to several locations in our yard and number in the hundreds. One of these locations is separated by a mowed lawn so I don't understand how they got to that location. Could squirrels and chipmunks be spreading the seeds? Regardless, I'm happy to see them growing in our yard.

Scott, Impatiens is an annual and reproduces strictly by seed. The little pods explode at the slightest touch when ripe, ejecting the seed quite a distance. While critters do spread the seed, even wind or rain can trigger the explosion.

Found these plants in the back yard, growing along side the neighbor's fence.

Found some of these growing at the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area on old Hwy 212 in Eden Prairie.

growing along old creek bank

There are some along the St. Louis River on the Western Waterfront Trail.

Found this plant along side my hydrangea. I have pulled them out in the past as I thought the translucent plant was a weed. Glad I did not see these this year. They are a nice sight to see with the flower on it. I found it on page 3 scrolling thru. Thank you for the site.

I found this plant growing under my fir trees in my backyard.

I have seen these for a few years, growing in the shady spots on the Douglas Trail between Rochester and Pine Island. Lots of them, but better than wild parsnip (which is also there).

Found in the woods of Nerstrand Big Woods State Park

I've seen these touch me nots in our slopy backyard leading to boggy pond.

On the shoreline of Knife Lake

The bees and hummingbirds love this plant, we bought a home 3 years ago and I didn’t know what jewel weed was and it grew everywhere near our marsh. Happy to see it.

This species has become an aggressive "weed" along the edge of our woods. It self seeds and the mice like to collect the seeds and gather them into caches for the winter and in the spring they germinate in thick clumps. It appears that some flowers do not have the showing petals but still produce the pods with seeds that "explode" when disturbed spreading the relatively larges seeds in all directions. This species was introduced to our area in the delivery of black dirt collect from an area around the Missipie river. We have been calling it "Big Feeters" because of is large interesting root that comes off the base of the stem which are often reddish in color. Deer eat this plant to the ground.

This grew on the side of my foundation . I have 50 seedlings. I will trans plant them . Fun.

We have a lot of this in a marshy area on our lot every year. I'm surprised Otter Tail County isn't included on the map showing this flower's distribution.

I was glad to be able to identify this plant as a Minnesota native. I'm trying to encourage as many native plants as I can.

I've been calling these "fake burning nettle". Never knew the real name until now. The plants are the same size and shape as burning nettle, and they grow side-by-side. The leaves are also very similar, except the touch-me-not doesn't have the burning hairs. Both plants "rule the forest" in southeast MN during the growing season. It is difficult to walk thru the forest because the burning nettle will get you. In the Fall, they die down -- then you can walk anywhere.

These are all over the wetland/bog on either side of the grassy walking path in a nearby park. Are they fragrant? Something was emitting a lovely aroma. The bees were having a nectar feast.

Seen along the "Trout Brook Loop" in Afton State Park the first week in September. Orchid-like and gorgeous. Thanks to your great website I was able to identify it.

I think this is the species that I now have growing throughout my botanical gardens. I am not totally sure however, and it could actually be I. capensis. The reason I don't know as of yet, is because they have so far, never bloomed. They only make the seed pods that eventually explode and spread more seed. I have looked for any flowers morning, noon and night throughout the season, and they are just never there. Only the explosive seed pods! I find this so strange and therefore, cannot identify the species yet. I believe it is I. pallida because of the size of the plants. They are very juicy, succulent and gigantic plants! I have no idea where these came from, but they are native to Minnesota, and definitely welcome in my gardens. I am hoping they will bloom this year and I will finally be able to make a definite identification. I don't know how the plant can make the seed pods without ever blooming. Very bizarre. Am I missing something perhaps?

Brian, a quick web search brought up a scientific paper from 1994 that describes Impatiens pallida as having both chasmogamous (the yellow flower we know and love) and cleistogamous (petal-less, self-fertilizing) flowers. You must have the latter.

Update: Thank you for your earlier reply and the link as well, Katie. You are correct about the plants being cleistogamous. For some reason, this year, they are actually making chasmogamous flowers of a deep golden colour with no spots. This is the first time I have seen these particular Impatiens pallida plants bloom, and they are very beautiful. I really like these a lot. So do the pollinators. One of the plants has decided to get very large. I am 6'1", and this plant is as tall as me, and has a trunk (yes, trunk!) about the size of my wrist. Not sure how normal that is for these native plants, but it is very impressive yet bizarre nonetheless!

Beautiful on the trails

First appeared in summer 2022 among my shoreline rocks on Bald Eagle Lake. Have no idea how it got there. Currently stands about 4 feet tall. Wondering if I will regret allowing it to prosper?