This adaptability makes them a great pollinator species, leading to an increase in their commercial use by the greenhouse industry.

[5] The specific name (the latter half of its scientific name) may come from the flowers of the genus Impatiens, which is one of its food sources.

[8] Specifically, the genus Bombus has 49 subgenera,[9] and B. impatiens belongs to the subgenus Pyrobombus.

[5] B. impatiens is also of the order Hymenoptera and family Apidae which characterizes its kin selection and relatedness.

The bees of B. impatiens are similar to those of B. bimaculatus, B. perplexus, B. vagans, B. sandersoni, and B. separatus in their appearance.

The bees lay egg clumps all over inside the nest instead of having one brood area around which the workers' distribution center is arranged.

[4] More specifically, its range includes Ontario, the New England States, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, south to Florida, west to Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa.

[13] Also, the increase in their commercial use by greenhouse industry led to the spread of the species outside its previous distribution range.

In addition to agricultural, wetland, and urban conditions, the species can thrive in wooded habitats, and is likely related to woodland spring ephemerals.

The following spring they emerge from hibernation and set about to get strong on nectar and to find a suitable old mouse or chipmunk hole to begin a colony.

[5] Foragers of B. impatiens colonies use a strategy called traplining, in which the bees visit their food sources in a repeatable sequence, to improve their efficiency, especially in an unfamiliar environment.

[18] Also, the bees can travel through the locations that were recently depleted of their resources, saving their energy and time.

[16] There are many food plants for B. impatiens including: "Aster", Cirsium, Eupatorium, Gelsemium, Malus, Pontederia, Rubus, Solidago, Trifolium, Crocus, Pieris, Rhododendron, barberry, mountain laurel, rose, clover, purple vetch, pickerel weed, purple loosestrife, buttonbush, beggar's ticks, goldenrod, boneset, burdock, and Impatiens from which the bee's name may come.

To create honey, the bees consume the pollen and the nectar, and then regurgitate them, mixing them with enzymes in their stomachs.

[24][25] Commercially produced B. impatiens is one of the most important species of pollinator bees that are used by greenhouse industry in North America,[7] including Canada and Mexico.

[7] The interest in B. impatiens has been increased even more due to the decline of pollinator bee population like A. mellifera[27] and the ban on importing B. terrestris into North America.