This lifeform is found widely in Eurasia. This lifeform is found east of the Continental Divide in North America. The orange color will help identify this lifeform.

Orange Jewelweed or Spotted Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens capensis or sometimes by the old name Impatiens biflora) is a very beautiful small orange flowering annual found in swampy or wet habitats such as along lake or swamp shores. The plant has very soft stems and is usually only four feet high. The species is found from Newfoundland to Florida and west to Nebraska. It blooms from mid to late summer.

Impatiens genus is found almost worldwide.  However, its representation in South America and Australia is very  limited.  There are about 850 herbs or sub-shrubs in this genus.  The leaves are typically simple, yet toothed.  The flowers to these plants typically have a spur.  There are 11 species growing in greater North America.

Jewel Weed or Balsam Family (Balsaminieae) is a family of basically two different genera with a total of about 800-900 species. The majority of the species are in the genus Impatiens which has over 400 members. There are 11 species in the genus Impatiens growing in greater North America.

Sapindales Order is a diverse group of mostly trees and shrubs.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are  Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings. Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite Family flowers like the  Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands).

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.

Plant kingdom contains a large variety of different organisms including mosses, ferns, and seed plants. Most plants manufacture their energy from sunlight and water. Identification of many species is difficult in that most individual plants have characteristics that have variables based on soil moisture, soil chemistry, and sunlight.

Because of the difficulty in learning and identifying different plant groups, specialists have emerged that study only a limited group of plants. These specialists revise the taxonomy and give us detailed descriptions and ranges of the various species.  Their results are published in technical journals and written with highly specialized words that apply to a specific group.

On the other hand, there are the nature publishers. These people and companies undertake the challenging task of trying to provide easy to use pictures and descriptions to identify those species.