pallidaĬommon name: Orange jewelweed, Common jewelweed, Spotted jewelweed, Spotted touch-me-not, Orange balsam biflora the yellow-flowering variety is I. Species: Impatiens capensis also known as I. It's easy to see why jewelweed comes highly recommended by readers and Twitter followers. There are many videos on YouTube describing this plant, often shot in woodland areas of the Southeast, that show how to use the plant to protect against poison ivy rashes or soothe the itch of insect bites. (No wonder I couldn't find it.) Margaret Roach, a garden writer who lives and gardens in upstate New York, describes it as a good weed because it offers so many benefits to wildlife. After a little research, I discovered that jewelweed grows wild throughout the eastern part of the United States. He makes no mention of it in his book.īy then, I was intrigued with this plant and wanted to find out more. He apparently hasn't found jewelweed here, either. A professor of botany at the University of Washington for more than 30 years, Kruckeberg has spent his lifetime studying and cataloging the local flora. So I consulted the "bible," Arthur Kruckeberg's book, GARDENING WITH NATIVE PLANTS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. I found plenty of horsetail ( Equisetum hyemale), Himalayan blackberry ( Rubus armeniacus) and wild clematis ( Clematis vitalba), but nothing resembling the jewelweed plant that had been described to me. I was pretty sure I could identify every plant in my local nettle patch, but I went back to see what, if anything, I had missed. I don't claim to be an expert on native plants of the Pacific Northwest, but this was news to me.
I was told that wherever you find nettles, jewelweed can be found growing nearby. Readers wrote to tell me that the sting from the nettles could be relieved by crushing jewelweed stems and applying the "juice" to the sting. I didn't know what jewelweed was until after I posted an article here on stinging nettles. From THE FIERY CROSS, by Diana Gabaldon, Chapter 34
My own immediate plans for the goose grease involved a salve of wild sarsaparilla and bittersweet for burns and abrasions, a mentholated ointment for stuffy noses and chest congestion, and something soothing and pleasantly scented for diaper rash - perhaps a lavender infusion with the juice of crushed jewelweed leaves." Shown above, busy lizzie ( Impatiens walleriana), is one of jewelweed's sisters. Watch the video at the bottom of this post. The popular bedding plant
Photograph it for you. For images of jewelweed flowers and habitat, Alas, jewelweed ( Impatiens capensis) doesn't grow here in Seattle, so I can't
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