''Impatiens capensis'', the orange jewelweed, common jewelweed, spotted jewelweed, jewelweed, spotted touch-me-not, or orange balsam, is an

annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. The length of growing seasons and period in which they take place vary according to geographical ...

in the family Balsaminaceae that is native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. It is common in bottomland soils, ditches, and along creeks, often growing side by side with its less common relative,

yellow jewelweed Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

(''I. pallida'').

Description

Jewelweed is an

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

plant that grows tall and blooms from late spring to early fall. The flowers are orange (sometimes blood orange or rarely yellow) with a three-lobed corolla; one of the calyx lobes is colored similarly to the corolla and forms a hooked conical spur at the back of the flower. Plants may also produce non-showy cleistogamous flowers, which do not require cross-pollination. It often branches extensively. The round stems are glabrous (smooth) and succulent, and semi-translucent, with swollen or darkened nodes on some plants. The leaves, which measure up to long and across, are alternate on the upper stems and opposite on the lower stems (when present). The leaves are

ovate Ovate may refer to: *Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...

to elliptic, simple, and have shallow, rounded teeth on the margins. The seed pods have five valves which coil back rapidly to eject the seeds in a process called explosive dehiscence or ballistochory. This reaction is where the name 'touch-me-not' comes from; in mature seed pods, dehiscence can easily be triggered with a light touch.

Distribution

''Impatiens capensis'' was transported in the 19th and 20th centuries to England, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Finland, and potentially other areas of northern and central Europe. These naturalized populations persist in the absence of any common cultivation by people. This jewelweed species is quite similar to ''

Impatiens noli-tangere ''Impatiens noli-tangere'' (touch-me-not balsam; Latin ''impatiēns'' "impatient" or "not allowing", and ''nōlī tangere'' "do not touch": literally "be unwilling to touch") is an annual herbaceous plant in the family Balsaminaceae found in dam ...

'', an ''Impatiens'' species native to Europe and Asia, as well as the other North American ''Impatiens''. No evidence exists of natural hybrids, although the habitats occupied by the two species are very similar. In the

State of Washington Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, ''Impatiens capensis'' is considered a class C

noxious weed A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or liv ...

due to its rapid spread and tendency to outcompete native jewelweeds. It has also formed a hybrid species with the native jewelweed ''

Impatiens ecornuta ''Impatiens ecornuta'', the spurless touch-me-not or western touch-me-not, is an annual flowering plant native to the northwestern United States and British Columbia in Canada.

''.

Uses

As food

The young shoots can be boiled (with two changes of water) as a

potherb Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad gre ...

; eating too much is not recommended as the plant contains

calcium oxalate Calcium oxalate (in archaic terminology, oxalate of lime) is a calcium salt of oxalic acid with the chemical formula . It forms hydrates , where ''n'' varies from 1 to 3. Anhydrous and all hydrated forms are colorless or white. The monohydrate ...

crystals. The seeds are also edible.

Medicinal

Along with other species of jewelweed, the juice of the leaves and stems is a traditional Native American remedy for skin rashes, including poison ivy. The effectiveness of its use to prevent the development of a rash after short-term exposure to poison ivy has been supported by peer-reviewed study, and is likely due to the plant containing

saponin Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...

s. These studies also found that some individuals have a sensitivity to jewelweed which can cause a more severe rash. The stem juice has also been used to treat athlete's foot; its

fungicidal Fungicides are biocidal chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill parasitic fungi or their spores. A fungistatic inhibits their growth. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality, ...

qualities have been scientifically verified.

Etymology

The leaves appear to be silver or 'jeweled' when held underwater, which is possibly where the jewelweed name comes from. Another possible source of the name is the color and shape of the bright robin's egg-blue kernels of the green projectile seeds. Both the genus name ''Impatiens'' ("impatience" in Latin) and common name spotted touch-me-not refer to how its seeds when ripe pop open on touch. The species name ''capensis'', meaning "of the cape", is actually a misnomer, as Nicolaas Meerburgh was under the mistaken impression that it was native to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, in southern Africa.

Pollination

Nectar spurs are tubular elongations of petals and sepals of certain flowers that usually contain nectar. Flowers of ''Impatiens capensis'' have these nectar spurs. Nectar spurs are thought to have played a role in plant-pollinator coevolution. Curvature angles of nectar spurs of ''Impatiens capensis'' are variable. This angle varies from 0 degrees to 270 degrees. The angle of the nectar spur is very important in the pollination of the flower and in determining the most efficient pollinator. Hummingbirds are major pollinators. They remove more pollen per visit from flowers with curved nectar spurs than with perpendicular nectar spurs. But hummingbirds are not the only pollinators of ''Impatiens capensis''.

Bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

, especially bumblebees play an important role in pollination as well. Due to hummingbirds and bees, the pollination of ''Impatiens capensis'' is very high.

Gallery

File:Jewel Weed Impatiens capensis Leaves and Flower 2600px.jpg, Leaves and flowers File:Jewel Weed Impatiens capensis Creek Side 3200px.jpg, Jewelweed growing on a creek side File:Potapsco fg13.jpg, Flower File:2017-09-02 16 32 48 Jewelweed in flower just after rain with water beading on the leaves (hence the name 'Jewelweed') along a walking path in the Franklin Farm section of Oak Hill, Fairfax County, Virginia.jpg, Leaf showing beads (jewels) just after rain

References

External links

Jewelweed
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2462343 capensis Flora of North America Plants described in 1775 Anxiolytics