Flower:

One to several racemes at branch tips and arising from the upper leaf axils, each with up to 10 long-stalked flowers. Flowers are showy, to 1+ inch (18 to 27 mm) long, funnel shaped, the outer surface white to pink or purple-tinged, the upper lip erect, the pair of lateral lips larger, pinkish-purple with yellow streaks at the base that act as nectar guides.

The cone-shaped tube narrows to a long, mostly straight spur at the back. Sepals are attached to the floral tube near the tip. Flower stalks and sepals are hairless. Typically, only 1 or 2 flowers in a raceme are open at a time.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are alternate, ~1½ to 4¾ inches (4 to 12 cm) long, ¾ to ~1½ inches (18 to 42 mm) wide, hairless, elliptic to egg-shaped, pointed at the tip, rounded to wedge-shaped at the base, hairless, finely serrated along the edges, on stalks up to ~2 inches (.5 to 5.5 cm) long. Stems are erect, branched and hairless.

Fruit:

Fruit is a thin, oblong-linear to somewhat club-shaped pod about 1 inch long that, when mature, pops open at the slightest touch, throwing seeds in all directions, hence the name “touch me not”.

Notes:

Balfour's Touch-me-not was introduced from Asia as an ornamental and is known to escape cultivation, spreading into woodlands, wetlands, and grasslands. It blooms summer into fall and can produce copious amounts of seed, which can shoot out several feet from the mother plant and allows it to form large colonies. There are reports of it consuming sizable patches of woodlands in Wisconsin, where it is currently listed as a Prohibited species.

It is easily distinguished from our native Impatiens by the flower color, finely serrated leaves, and shorter stature.