Photo by Jim Jung. All rights reserved.

Jewelweed

When near a wet area - along a stream, ditch, or damp ravine - you may notice an oddly shaped, orange flowered, watery weak-stemmed plant between two and five feet tall. This is Jewelweed - Impatieins biflora - one of the most effective and potent treatments for Poison Ivy, Mosquito bites, chiggers, Stinging Nettles, and skin ailments in general, in our area. Mark the plant well in your mind since you may need it at some future time.

Topical Use

To use it for treating skin ailments take a piece of the stem and scrunch it up in your hand until it's watery sap begins to ooze. Smear the sap over the afflicted area and you're done. Relief is usually instantaneous. Jewelweed is for external use only as it is poisonous if eaten.

How Touch-Me-Nots got their name

Jewelweed is in the Touch-Me-Not family. Should you return in September or early October you'll find the plant covered with hundreds of small, seed pods that – like all members of that family – appear to be quite calm. But touch a ripe pod and everything changes. The round little pods explode in bundles of curling, writhing plant tissue and propel the seeds up to twenty feet away thus sowing the next year's crop.

Hummingbirds feed on Jewelweed

Jewelweed is also a highly favored food source for hummingbirds, especially as it blooms late in the summer when some hummers have already begun their southern migration for the year. Patches of Jewelweed are fiercely defended by hummingbird families and anyone wishing to find these winged jewels has only to locate a patch of the plant in flower and wait a few minutes for these pugnacious little birds to appear.

Local Species

Our area harbors two species: the standard, common Jewelweed shown above (Impatiens biflora) and the Pale Jewelweed which is a little taller (to five feet) than the common species and has pale, yellow-green flowers (Impatiens pallida).

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