Jewelweed

[Peanut]

Jewelweed - Impatiens capensis I thought I’d post it because it’s all over the internet for treating poison ivy.

Personally, I’m not a big fan for several reasons.
1) In my experience plantain is far superior for treating poison ivy and plantain is far easier to find than jewelweed. https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/plantain.4393/

2) Where I live fresh plantain is available 11 months out of the year, jewelweed – maybe 5 months out of the year.

3) Jewelweed only grows in wet ground, near streams in semi-swampy ground. Around here that’s also the natural habitat for Cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus) a highly poisonous pit viper. Plantain grows in most lawns so unless your allergic to crickets – no worries.

4) Contact dermatitis – Something you will not find on the internet. Jewelweed causes contact dermatitis in about 30% of the population. This can be very mild to severe. So, I highly recommend tearing a leaf and rubbing it on your skin in a small spot as a test before smearing it over a large area. Actually, I recommend doing this with any plant you’ve never tried just to see if you have an allergic reaction.

Jewelweed blooms here in late September. These blooms are a week past their prime. I’ve had 6 weeks of drought with abnormally high temps.

Sort of funny, I saw one site today that claimed jewelweed can be used to treat hemorrhoids, claimed it contains a chemical found in preparation H. Personally that’s one place I’m not willing to risk a case of contact dermatitis.

 

[Bacpacker]

Great post Peanut. I would like to have a year to spend learning all about plants through the seasons. That would be a world of information to aquire.

 

[phideaux]

Hard to tell in picture , but that looks like honeysuckle vines and blooms.

Jim

 

[Weedygarden]

I honestly do not think I have ever seen jewelweed before. I have plantain growing on my property and in my area.

 

[Peanut]

Hard to tell in picture , but that looks like honeysuckle vines and blooms.

Jim

You're right... It's a shrub commonly found growing tightly among other shrubs. They all tend to blend together.

Here is another pic to give a little perspective. I drew a brown line around the jewelweed. It's growing with privet hedge on the bank of a small creek by a wooden bridge... The road is dirt so it's covered with dust after 6 weeks of drought.

You can also tell from this photo... a prime place for a cottonmouth to lay up waiting for frogs or small mammals.

 

[camo2460]

I am very Allergic to Poison Ivy and have suffered with some pretty severe out breaks in the past. What I found that worked well for me was a strong Infusion of Oak Bark and then chilled in the Freezer, I would then bathe the affected area with this cold Astringent Liquid several time a Day. Burdock Tea also worked, but not as well as the Oak Bark.

 

[Peanut]

a strong Infusion of Oak Bark and then chilled in the Freezer, I would then bathe the affected area with this cold Astringent Liquid several time a Day. Burdock Tea also worked, but not as well as the Oak Bark.

Yes, I've heard of white oak bark tincture mixed with plantain and made into a salve...

There are just too many plants that work better and are far easier to acquire than jewelweed.

 

[Patchouli]

Found this short article. I think I've seen these flowers, such an interesting shape.
https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/impatiens_capensis.shtml
Part of the article:
The showy orange flowers of jewelweed must be cross-pollinated by insects or hummingbirds. However, jewelweed also has inconspicuous flowers that never open. These flowers (termed cleistogamous by botanists) fertilize themselves and produce seed without ever exchanging pollen with another flower. Cleistogamous flowers are very small (about 1 mm long) and are borne near the bases of the leaves. Research has shown that seeds produced by the showy, cross-pollinated flowers grow into larger, hardier plants, but the cleistogamous flowers produce seed at a much lower cost to the parent plant.

 

[Patchouli]

Do you have common plantain or English plantain? Does it matter? Do both have same healing properties, @Peanut ?

 

[Peanut]

I have both of those as well as two other native species of plantain here... I use all of them the same. Its just a matter of what I find first when looking.