Wildflower (forb) · Balsaminaceae
Pale touch-me-not
Impatiens pallida
Pale touch-me-not is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 820 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Pale touch-me-not at a glance
- Native in
- 820 counties, across 31 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10b PLANTS minimum temperature 32°F
- Mature height
- 8.2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 10b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 32°F; zone 10b winters bottom out at 35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Pale touch-me-not is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 820 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 820 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 2 counties
- Arkansas 15 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 4 counties
- Illinois 74 counties
- Indiana 63 counties
- Iowa 14 counties
- Kansas 22 counties
- Kentucky 66 counties
- Maine 1 county
- Massachusetts 5 counties
- Michigan 22 counties
- Minnesota 25 counties
- Missouri 95 counties
- Nebraska 12 counties
- New Hampshire 3 counties
- New Jersey 12 counties
- New York 41 counties
- North Carolina 20 counties
- North Dakota 5 counties
- Ohio 66 counties
- Oklahoma 3 counties
- Pennsylvania 61 counties
- South Dakota 5 counties
- Tennessee 31 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 61 counties
- West Virginia 41 counties
- Wisconsin 37 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual
- Mature height
- 8.2 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 28 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 6.8 to 7.4
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 32°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 110
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Indeterminate
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Balsaminaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- IMPA
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Impatiens pallida (PLANTS symbol IMPA).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources