Herb Of The Week - Jewelweed, Spotted Touch-Me-Not

[Guest guest]

Information post here with permission and courtesy of: " Courtesy Web of

Species at Wellesley College "

http://www.wellesley.edu/Activities/homepage/web/Species/ptouchmenot.htm

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*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

 

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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.