#Common Jewelweed

[wildflowers-of-southern-ontario]

Common Jewelweed Impatiens capensis Balsaminaceae

Photograph taken on August 12, 2022, along the Culham Trail, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

[faguscarolinensis]

Impatiens capensis / Common Jewelweed at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, NC

[crudlynaturephotos]

[i-identify-plants-in-pictures]

Impatiens capensis / Orange Jewelweed

orange and yellow

[thebelmontrooster]

Wildflower Walk ?

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you all well. I apologize for not posting for a while. It has been a weird summer for sure with the heat and drought. I was busy with the garden picking sweet corn and green beans right up until August 17. Somehow I managed to get 455 ears of sweet corn in the freezer, and thanks to the ‘Provider’ green beans, 34 quarts of green beans. Of course, not all the…

[los-plantalones]

y’all know what this is?!

it is a clump of jewelweed seedlings!

common jewelweed (impatiens capensis) is native to north america and likes to grow along waterways. in the summertime she grows lovely little orange flowers.

but my favorite thing about her is her sap! it’s great for topical use on irritated skin. i make salves out of it and other happy-skin plants every summer. AND anD if you apply the sap to an area of skin that’s been exposed to poison ivy, it can prevent the rash from developing.

OMG there’s a poison ivy preventative!? well. . . no. this is a more of a “i am in the middle of the woods and have no soap and water but i DO have this plant” situation.

the thing is, you have to have to apply the jewelweed sap almost immediately after exposure to urushiol (the itchy juice in poison ivy), and if you’ve been in contact with poison ivy for more than a few minutes – which most people are because they don’t recognize/notice it – then it’s DEF not going to work. urushiol is absorbed by the skin too fast.

it’s still a cool plant and it DOES reduce itchiness and irritation from dermatitis and bug bites. 🦟

[vandaliatraveler]

Despite its undignified name, Muddy Creek is a lovely mountain stream that normally runs fast and clear on its steep descent to Cheat River. But after a week of heavy rain in NC-WV, the stream looked a bit murky yesterday. Not even the sediment washing away from the mountains dims its beauty in my eyes. And the enchanting, moss-encrusted forest along its bank holds its own late summer treasures.

From top: great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), which pairs beautifully with cardinal flower to provide late summer color in a native wildflower garden; white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), which is the most common of the shade-loving white asters in this area; crooked-stemmed aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoides), also known as zigzag aster, whose clasping, spatula-shaped leaves distinguish it from big-leaf aster, another woods-loving aster with lavender flowers; blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia), whose spreading, yellow-flowered stems provide stunning late-season color in a native wildflower garden; an intensely-green collage of moss, woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) and heartleaf foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), which I am trying hard to reproduce in my own native wildflower shade garden; the shaggy-maned stem of Coker's Amanita (Amanita cokeri), one of the most impressive mushrooms of Appalachia's summer forests; beech-drops (Epifagus virginiana), a parasitic plant that grows and subsists on beach tree roots; the bright red berries of false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum racemosum); yellow jewelweed (Impatiens pallida), whose explosive seed pods give the plant its other common name, pale touch-me-not; and narrow-leaved tick-trefoil (Desmodium paniculatum), also known as panicled tick-trefoil, a late summer pea whose sticky seed pods commonly hitch rides on shoes and boots.

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

My Garden Flowers Part 8

All photos mine.

In order of appearance:

211. White Avens (Geum canadense) This was here before I got there and as she's native she survived the purge I did of the weeds.

212. Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida) I didn't plant this, but she's in lots of places now and she's not always this orange, often leaning more toward amber, but she is always very pretty.

213. Tall White Lettuce (Prenanthes altissima) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

214. American Red Raspberry (Rubus strigosus) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

215. Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

216. Barren Strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides) The leaves look a lot like strawberry leaves, the flowers look like if strawberry flowers were yellow, and they make a red berry! But it tastes woody and bland. Hence the name. I still want to make a jam of them if I ever get enough of them, though.

217. Tufted Hairgrass (Deschampsia ceaspitosa) Don't mind the bull thistle behind it that I wasn't able to remove, but the foliage of the grass is a nice blue-green and the flowers are, well, tufts.

218. Largeflower Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) The flowers are always bowed as if wilting. They're springtime flowers only.

219. Spotted Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) One of the only two Impatiens species native this far north. The flowers of this one are orange. She likes moist to wet spots and can handle full sun to full shade.

220. Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata) Yellow flowers in summer, dark red leaves in autumn.

221. Thicket Creeper (Parthenocissus vitacea) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

222. Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

223. Black Cherry (Prunus nigra) Not pictured as I haven't got pictures yet.

224. Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricata) A sunflower that can handle shade! Not heavy shade, but a considerable amount.

225. Fringed Willowherb (Epilobium ciliatum) I didn't plant this, but she has cute tiny flowers and she has tasty leaves.

226. Starry False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum stellatum) Little star-shaped white flowers become candy-striped red berries.

227. Narrow-Leaved Wild Leek (Allium burdickii) Like her close cousin, A. tricoccum, she only matures enough to flower after seven years, so this is special.

228. Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

229. Common Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris vulgaris) A common garden weed but she's native to my range of acceptability for my garden, so she stays wherever she's not in the way.

230. Bog Bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

231. Red Wakerobin (Trillium erectum) Her stem broke the first year I had her. I was afraid she'd die but I was able to splint her and she survived to flower again the following year for this picture!

232. Marsh Violet (Viola palustris) Small round leaves grow close to the ground and flowers come up on stalks a few inches above. As the name suggests she prefers things wet.

233. Duck Potato (Saggittaria latifolia) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

234. Purple avens (Geum rivale) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

235. Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) I got two cultivars and they sadly didn't survive the winter. Maybe the wild type would fare better if I could get my hands on that.

236. American Bur-Reed (Sparganium americanum) Fluffy ball flowers. She likes things moist to wet.

237. Heart-Leaved Alexanders (Zizia aptera) She's not quite as showy as her cousin, Zizia aurea, but a nice little plant in a moist to wet area.

238. Canada Burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

239. Oval-Leaved Milkweed (Asclepias ovalifolia) Her second flowering year. She's considerably shorter than most milkweeds. Her cream-coloured flowers are a lovely addition to a garden. Especially if you're tempted to get the white cultivar of swamp milkweed, oval-leaf milkweed also likes wet areas and is well-behaved. Why not get her instead?

240. Redbud (Cercis canadensis) Not pictured as I haven't got pictures yet.

[thebashfulbotanist]

Field of goldenrod, pokeweed berries, jewelweed, evening primrose, more goldenrod with I think echinacea, a gall I found on goldenrod, and a plant I never identified.

I took these all in Western MA in early September. I'm terrible with Latin names and since I only do this casually I get by fine with common names. I really love identifying the plants around me it brings me a lot of joy.

--

Addition from the botanists here - picture 5 shows New England aster, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, which is a New England native. I have bad news for you on the last one, though. That appears to be purple loosestrife, which, although pretty, is a highly invasive species often classified as a noxious weed.

[mel-smeld]

Ceratina bee on some native Common Jewelweed in OR

[prettybearbutch]

I'm a city girl who's uncomfy around nature and bugs and I can't stop thinking about going on "nature walks" with you to get me more comfortable. Walks that all start innocent, where I marvel at your passion and knowledge, but that quickly turns into eyes lingering on how your ass looks in your jeans, my face barely hiding how badly I want one of us bent over a fallen log.

What a great idea ❤️ I know the best spots- nothing too backcountry, but not highly trafficked, either.

I'd walk slightly ahead of you, clearing the cobwebs that formed on the trail overnight, scanning for pretty things to show you. Maybe I'd spot some common jewelweed- guiding you to the orange flowers, our heads close as I point out the curved nectar spur. I'd notice movement a few feet from us and put one hand on your lower back (politely pretending to not hear the catch in your breath), turning you just slightly.

"You see it?" You'd shake your head, and I'd step behind you- my other hand settling on your waist, tilting you in the right direction. My voice would be low in your ear- "See that tree with the peeling bark, straight ahead? Follow the trunk down, and look in the jewelweed- those pretty orange flowers we were just looking at." I'd give your hips an encouraging squeeze when I hear you quietly, but excitedly, exclaim that you see it- a Ruby-throated hummingbird, flitting from flower to flower just a few feet from us. Feeling you settle back against me, the two of us just taking in the moment together.

Bonus: here's the common jewelweed (aka spotted touch-me-not) and Ruby-throated Hummingbird I ran into last week that inspired these thoughts 🏵️

[lillipad72]

The Annotated Anne of Green Gables ~~ a special rereading

a little intro on how i will be doing things for this: generally I will not be commenting much on the story itself but more on the notes in the book i find most interesting and expanding/analyzing them :)

CHAPTER I ~~ Mrs. Rachel Lynde is Surprised + the epigraph

"The good stars met in your horoscope,/Made you of spirit and fire and dew." -Browning

This line is the first bit of text given by Montgomery, as seen in the epigraph. It comes from the poem "Evelyn Hope," by Robert Browning. This poem is about an old man lamenting the death of sixteen-year-old Evelyn and his love for her, which she never experienced. While the context makes this poem more morbid, the lines themselves are beautiful and lyrical. I am trying to figure out why Montgomery chose these lines to introduce Anne. Was it some deeper meaning she found in the poem? Was it the image of Evelyn that these lines describe? Did it match her image of Anne? Or something else entirely? Let me know what you think! (A watercolor of Evelyn from 1908 is above, and here is the poem)

"Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through the woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade."

The first line of the actual story (more like a complex sentence)! I just wanted to take a second to appreciate our scenery here and specifically talk about the "ladies' eardrops." When first reading, I knew this must be a plant, for it followed alders, but I knew nothing about it. The more common names include jewelweed and spotted touch-me-not. This plant is native to North America and is mostly found near creeks. It spreads very rapidly and does not need cross-pollination! Actually, in the State of Washington, it is considered a weed due to its fast reproduction. I think that including this plant with specifically that uncommon name for it is used to draw us into the almost fantastical world full of wonder that is Anne's soon-to-be home, Prince Edward Island. Because even if you do not know which plant the name refers to, the name shouts beauty and delicacy. I have even more thoughts about the symbolism of this plant but fear that I might be looking too much into something that might just be a passing reference. Oh and above is a photo of ladies' eardrops!

"Mrs. Rachel found abundant time to sit for hours at her kitchen window, knitting "cotton warp" quilts -- she had knitted sixteen of them, as Avonlea housekeepers were wont to tell in awed voices."

While Rachel Lynde must have 'abundant time,' she also must be extremely fast at knitting. "Cotton warp" refers to a kind of yarn used for weaving, and she was actually making a bedspread. With this type of yarn, knit squares were not a thing; instead, she would have used elaborate lacy patterns. After researching, I found a post in which a woman described how long her mother took to crochet a similar type of quilt. It took her mother approximately 300 to 400 hours to complete. And Rachel knit sixteen of them and is on her seventeenth at this point. No wonder the Avonlea housekeepers were in awe. But that is not the end of her quilts. She gives Anne six quilts while in college (five are just lent, though), Diana gets one for her wedding, and another two for Anne upon her own wedding (also not clear if any of these are newly knitted for the occasion or ones she already has). Also, our favorite person, Lucy Maud Montgomery, knit three of her own 'cotton warp' quilts in her lifetime. One of which is known as the 'Crazy Quilt,' and a photo is above!

This chapter didn't have too many notes that I found super interesting, for most of them had to do with geography, and it is a shorter chapter, so I hope you enjoyed my findings on these three topics!

next chapter

[faguscarolinensis]

Impatiens capensis / Common Jewelweed at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, NC

[unnervinglyferal]

My current list of native plants that I should plant, I have no idea if these are already on the land

Which is why I need to survey it

And see if we have any other invasive plants, currently we have: the multi flora rose, the honeysuckle, and the stupid fucking mile-a-minute vine that I’m pulling tomorrow

I can’t remove the giant fields worth of multi flora roses or the giant honeysuckle bushes right now but I can get rid of that stupid fucking vine before it takes over the damn yard

Anyways here’s the list of surprisingly a lot of edible plants and wetland plants that are native and I should plant:

Rubus odoratus — flowering raspberry

Vitis riparia — river grape or Vitis labrusca — fox grape

Rubus recurvicaulis — arching blackberry

Viburnum opulus — highbush-cranberry

Aquilegia canadensis — red columbine

Impatiens capensis — jewelweed, spotted touch-me-not

Lobelia cardinalis — cardinal-flower, red lobelia

Comarum palustre — marsh-cinquefoil, purple marsh-locks

Ranunculus caricetorum — swamp buttercup, swamp crowfoot

Symphyotrichum ciliolatum — Lindley's American-aster

Adiantum pedatum — northern maidenhair fern

Thelypteris palustris — marsh fern

Woodsia glabella — smooth cliff fern

Dryopteris campyloptera — mountain wood fern

Calla palustris — water arum, wild calla

Erythronium americanum — American trout-lily

Lilium philadelphicum — wood lily

Cypripedium acaule — pink lady's-slipper

Juniperus communis — common juniper

Prunus serotina — black cherry

Rhododendron canadense — Canada rosebay, rhodora

Rhododendron groenlandicum — Labrador-tea

Ribes hirtellum — hairy-stemmed gooseberry

Morus rubra — red mulberry

Ribes triste — swamp red currant

Gaylussacia baccata — black huckleberry

Tilia americana — American linden

Vaccinium corymbosum — highbush blueberry

Sambucus nigra — black elderberry

Aralia nudicaulis — wild sarsaparilla

Matteuccia struthiopteris — fiddlehead fern, ostrich fern

Allium tricoccum — ramps, wild leek

Looks like you've got your work laid out for you, huh?

Try not to break your back and don't get burned in the sun.

[alchemiccolored]

If you’re up for it, top 5 favorite prairie plants and why? Or are there any parasitic prairie plants that you know of? Where I’m at we’ve got California Dodder and mistletoe but they’re the only ones I know about

OH THATS TOUGH.

5. Andropogon gerardii - Big Bluestem: basically THE prairie grass. you cannot have a tallgrass prairie without a tall grass lol.

4. Carex buxbaumii - Buxbaum's sedge: I can't in good conscience do this top 5 without including a sedge. all sedges are identifiable by their triangular stalks- "sedges have edges!" I'm still not fantastic at identifying specific species, but carex buxbaumii is one i'm pretty confident in, since i harvested them at my old internship! i couldn't find a great pic for it but their seed heads look like mint chocolate :3

3. Eryngium yuccifolium - Rattlesnake Master: aside from having the COOLEST FUCKING NAME POSSIBLY, this is also a really unique prairie plant! they don't have obvious "flowers," instead having a spiky green ball on a long stem (its still a flower though). despite their painful looking leaves, these guys aren't too bad to accidentally rub up against, especially if you've got bull thistle and common teasel in the same area (FUCK teasel).

2. Silphium perfoliatum - Cup Plant: really, I could go with any of the silphiums but cup plant is just such a cool plant. all silphiums get really tall and have beautiful big yellow flowers, but what makes cup plant special is its cups! where the leaves meet the (really cool, square) stem, they completely surround it and form a cup that actually holds water after it rains. theyre great for finding bugs since they have lots of nooks and crannies (and water)

1. Impatiens capensis - Jewelweed/Spotted Touch-me-not: not solely a prairie plant, but it's such a good one I gotta put it in here. it likes wetter environments when in full sun, which leads to it growing like ABSOLUTE CRAZY! they usually get to about 1-3' tall, but one that was at the end of a stream in full sun got to 6' at least. it's an impatiens so it spreads its seeds by fucken LAUNCHING them; very cool but also cmon i want to propagate you :( MOST importantly, though, it is a natural remedy for both poison ivy and stinging nettle. i'm not usually one for medicinal herbs but this plant has saved me lots of trouble (and money) by keeping those rashes down.

dodder my best friend dodder <3 i'm not sure if there are any other fully parasitic prairie plants, but wood betony is one i'm aware of that's hemiparasitic, getting some of its nutrients from other plants. i love parasitic plants, theyre so interesting...

[rhenvs3000w23]

Teaching Learners: My Experience Learning How to be a Nature Interpreter

I am a visual and tactile learner, I enjoy seeing how things work and why things are as they are in real-time. For example, my work at the Outdoor School introduced me to one of my favourite plants, Jewelweed. When I was first introduced to Jewelweed, it was explained to me that it was a friend in the forest. It is named Jewelweed for the way it glistens in the rain, and nicknamed a 'touch-me-not' for the way the seed pods burst when brushed. It was vital for me to know and recognize because it could help soothe poison ivy rashes and bug bites. However, when I was told this, it was winter. The plants were covered with snow, there were no bugs to be concerned about or seed pods to pop.

When summer programming started, new kids arrived at the forest with different levels of personal connection and comfort with nature. My most memorable moment of nature connection came from a rough situation. A 10-year-old boy came to programming in one of the last weeks of summer. On a wander to a nearby creek, he went to explore up a hill and, unfortunately, stepped on a ground wasp nest. He came running back, screaming that he had been bitten by wasps. The bites were already growing and he was becoming paranoid that the wasps were following him. We ran back to camp together to get some water and cool down. I told him I knew just the thing that would help, Jewelweed. Together we crushed up the stems and talked about ways Jewelweed could be used to help itching and pain, how its leaves glimmer in the mist and its bright orange flowers that can be spotted from far away.

When he reunited with the group he took it upon himself to show them how he was able to feel better. He led them to a patch of Jewelweed and they all listened as he explained that the stems are more helpful than leaves at soothing, and how they are capable of magically gleaming. 

Through this story, each aspect can connect to the stages of flow learning by Joseph Cornell (Beck et al. 2018). The first stage is awakening enthusiasm, by encouraging teamwork between the boy and I to help him, he was excited to go and look for the Jewelweed with me (Beck et al. 2018). Secondly, is focusing attention. I described to him how to use and crush the stems and mindfully and respectfully forage to protect the forest (Beck et al. 2018). The third stage is direct experience, the moment he felt pain relief from the Jewelweed, he was able to trust not only me but the land he was on to help him (Beck et al. 2018). The final step is sharing inspiration, when he told the group his own experience, they were able to bond as a group and collectively understand the power of the land around them (Beck et al. 2018). 

The nature interpreter I want to combine all these stages and ensures a genuine, authentic, memorable connection to the outdoors. I've attached an image of some Jewelweed below! (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) For those interested, the leaves are hydrophobic so water beads rest on top and look like small gems :)

Reference:

Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson, D.M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage for a Better World. Sagamore Publishing.