I always thought it was just me. I learned to call these great plants Jewelweed when I was a kid. I always thought the name was made up. We even called them “touch me nots” when they were ready to set seed, because the seed pods literally explode. I had figured my own experience with Poison Ivy and Jewelweed was strictly a placebo effect. Assuming it was real, I can add the following: If you have ever gotten into “stinging nettles” — and trust me, if you had, you would know — crush some Jewelweed — it almost always grows nearby — and rub it onto the affected area, it gives almost instant relief.
Jewelweed, Spotted Touch-Me-Not
Impatiens capensis
Family Balsaminaceae
Characteristics:
- Flower colored with varying shades of orange, spotted with a deeper red-orange, hanging like an earring or a goldfish.
- Flower stems succulent, juicy.
- Leaves opposite, spade-shaped, with rounded teeth on purple stems.
- Seed capsule oval.
- Height: 2-5′.
Natural History:
- Flowers July – September.
- Habitat: Wet, shady areas, streambanks.
- Range: Throughout the United States.
- Native.
Connections!
- Jewelweed seed capsules hold the seeds under tension, and they split and coil when triggered by the wind or by a touch (hence the name “touch-me-not”), sending the seeds catapulting up to four feet away.
- Jewelweed leaves are, for an unknown reason, waterproof; water beads across their surface, kept from touching the leaf by a thin layer of air trapped in microscopic hairs on the leaf. If you immerse a leaf in water, it will appear silver. When you remove the leaf it will be perfectly dry.
- The juice in the jewelweed’s stem can actually help reduce inflammation from poison ivy and insect bites. If you come into contact with poison ivy and there is jewelweed in the vicinity, mash it and apply the mass to the affected area.
- Native Americans used jewelweed in treating stomach cramps, and they boiled the juice of the plant to make a yellow-orange dye.
Jiasuey and Allaire (1998), <i>Jewelweed</i>. Retrieved Sunday, September 28, 2003, from <a href="http://www.wellesley.edu/Activities/homepage/web/Species/ptouchmenot.html" title="Jewelweed">www.wellesley.edu/ Activities/ homepage/ web/ Species/ ptouchmenot.html</a>.