This is a picture of three spotted jewelweed leaves and a flower. The largest leaf is about the size of medium or small leaves on a typical plant. The large hole made by insects is very typical too. The flower is shown from the side, with a typically curled-back spur.

Jewelweed or Touch-me-not
(Impatiens varieties in the Balsaminaceae or Touch-me-not family)

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Pictures and more information coming soon! (For photos, try the links at the bottom of this page.)

Jewelweed, or touch-me-not, is an inconspicuous annual. The plant grows in moist, shady areas, often near streams, to a height of 3 to 5 feet. There are two kinds of jewelweed: spotted touch-me-not or jewelweed (Impatiens capensis Meerb.) and pale touch-me-not or yellow jewelweed (Impatiens pallida Nutt.). Spotted touch-me-not is fairly widespread and common and blooms from June through September. Pale touch-me-not grows from North Florida to Georgia in the mountains and from Arkansas to Kansas; it blooms from July through October and prefers limey soils. Most of the information on this page comes from observation of spotted jewelweed.

Jewelweed plants are like small shrubs. Their stems, which are very angular or vertically ridged rather than cylindrical, branch off the main stalk at odd angles, and the main stalk itself may be bent into odd angles, especially towards the top; the joints are considerably swollen, especially towards the base. The small lower branches tend to branch off the stem in opposite pairs, while the ones near the top tend to alternate. Near the leaves, the succulent stems are very pale green, with reddish coloring; near the bottom of the plant, the stems are darker and have dark, reddish, vertical stripes, with a very fine layer of clingy whitish dust that can easily be rubbed off. Stems are often found rather neatly bitten off and turned brown, suggesting that they are eaten by deer. At the base of the plant, the angles of the stems grow sharper and more contorted, and thick, straggly, reddish roots grow from the big, swollen joints.

The leaves are oval-shaped, with slight teeth that may be nubbish or pointed and have very tiny, pale points. Each leaf is a soft shade of green on the upperside and very pale underneath, and feels soft, almost velvety, to the touch. Older, larger leaves tend to be am even blue-green-gray color, while younger, smaller ones are greener, lighter, and more mottled. The leaves often have holes eaten through them from insects and are easily bruised and crushed. I've heard that young jewelweed plants look very different from the older plants, and have penny-shaped leaves, but have not yet studied any.

When jewelweed leaves are held underwater, they feel buoyant, as though they want to rise to the surface; they also take on a strikingly silvery sheen all over their surface. When the strongly water-resistant leaves are taken out of the water, they are practically dry. When raindrops collect on them, in round beads, the same silvery, shimmery effect occurs. (This is the origin of the folk name "silverleaf", and possibly the name "jewelweed".)

In the summer the plant grows round, pea-sized pale or white flowerbuds with pointed tips; if the plant is spotted jewelweed, the spots may show up inside the flower even before the petals have taken on their orange color. The flowerbuds darken and open into small, horn-shaped flowers that hang like golden gems from their thin, threadlike stems (earning the plant its folk name "lady's eardrops", and possibly the name "jewelweed"). The nearly white stems are often forked irregularly, with two or three eraser-sized flower buds growing and blooming in succession; they come out of the thicker leaf stems, letting the flowers lie on top of the leaves or hang beneath them. Spotted jewelweed flowers are light orange with reddish dots like freckles in front. Yellow jewelweed flowers are pale yellow, with shorter spurs. The shape of the jewelweed flower is that of a hollow horn, with the stem attached near the mouth of the horn and the point of the horn, or "spur", usually curled back towards the front. At the opening of the flower, two petals hang down like small banners. If the plant is of the spotted variety, these two petals are covered with vivid freckles, which can be seen even deeper inside the flower. The flowers are pollinated by bees, butterflies, and sometimes hummingbirds.

In place of the flowers grow small, pale, pointed seedpods that grow longer as they ripen. Each ripe seedpod's skin is taut and springy, and when touched lightly splits into several strands that instantly curl up like springs; this causes the ripe seedpods to "explode", scattering the seeds (hence the name "touch-me-not", and the less common name "snapweed"). Every seedpod I've examined contains two seeds.

Young jewelweed shoots, up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) high, can be gathered in the spring, boiled in two changes of water for 10 to 15 minutes and eaten; do not drink the cooking water.

Jewelweed leaves can be picked, crushed between the palms to squeeze out the slightly sticky juice, and rubbed on the skin to prevent rash from poison ivy (or to soothe stinging nettles rashes). It also helps to heal an existing rash, but not as much. The stem juice, taken before the plant flowers, may be used in the same way. Some have frozen jewelweed leaf tea into ice cubes to use on poison ivy rash. A 1957 study by a physician showed jewelweed to be effective within two or three days in treating poison ivy rash for most of the subjects.

Jewelweed flowers were used by Indians to make orange dye. (The leaves, oddly enough, leave an orange stain when pressed between pages, so they must contain the same dye component.)

Jewelweed is quite famous in folklore as a poison ivy treatment. Jewelweed is associated with the planets Venus and Neptune.

Jewelweed's several folk names include "snapweed", "silverleaf", and "lady's eardrops". A poem in the World Hall of the Gallery, titled The Art of the Gods, has a verse about jewelweed.

A nice photo and brief description of pale jewelweed can be found in Eco-USA's profile of the plant. Similar photos and descriptions can be found in Wildflowers of Western Kentucky's Pale Touch-me-not and Spotted Touch-me-not pages. A little more information is on Wildflowers of Western Pennsylvania's page The TOUCH-ME-NOT. A nice page with good photos is the page on jewelweed on Web of Species. A close-up photo of a livid blood-red spotted touch-me-not flower, clearly showing the spur, is on Blue Ridge Wildflowers's page on the plant in the Photos section. A great close-up of pale jewelweed, and some other pictures, is on Zen's WNC Nature Notebook's page on the plant. The page Herbs has a small profile under "jewelweed". Some information on the taxonomy of the plant is on the Impatiens page of the scholarly page Life. Another page on jewelweed is on the page Common Summer Wildflowers of West Virginia.

The information in these pages is accurate to the best of my knowledge, but I make no guarantees about its accuracy, nor do I take responsibility for any damage or injury caused by use or misuse of this information.

If this page is too complicated, go to the brief profile instead.

Much of this information comes from A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke (Peterson Field Guides). Thanks also to Mother Herb and Moonwatcher.