I can’t recall who taught me about Wild Touch Me Nots. We’ve always called the plant Jewel Weed, but the popping seed pods certainly give favor to the name Wild Touch Me Not.
According toWildflowers Worth Knowing by Neltje Blanchan, Jewelweed is also called Spotted Touch Me Not, Silver Cap, Wild Balsam, Lady’s Eardrops, Snap Weed, and Wild Lady’s Slipper.
Blanchan also has this to say about the plants:
“Distribution–Nova Scotia to Oregon, south to Missouri and Florida.
These exquisite, bright flowers, hanging at a horizontal, like jewels from a lady’s ear, may be responsible for the plant’s folk-name; but whoever is abroad early on a dewy morning, or after a shower, and finds notched edges of the drooping leaves hung with scintillating gems, dancing, sparkling in the sunshine, sees still another reason for naming this the Jewel-weed. In a brook, pond, spring, or wayside trough, which can never be far from its haunts, dip a spray of the plant to transform the leaves into glistening silver. They shed water much as the nasturtiums do.”
It might have been an older cousin, an uncle, or even mamaw that first showed me the small exploding seed pods. I’ve tried my best to share the novelty of popping them with younger members of my Wilson family.
Late of an evening I’d take my little cousins down the road walking and looking for jewel weed. We’d stop at every patch and they’d “pop” seeds that were ready and most of the ones that weren’t ready 🙂
The plant is a natural cortisone and can be used for all sorts of skin aliments.
Several years ago Cheryl shared how she uses it.
“Every year an abundance of jewel weed grows along side our stream. I cut down to about 4 inches of the root, pack as much as I can into a few quart-size jars and pour in as much witch hazel or vodka as the jar will hold. Let it steep at least a month, the longer the better. Eventually I strain it and keep a few jars stored in the basement. It will get used up in a hurry if someone encounters ground hornets, yellow jackets, or poison ivy or oak. It takes the hurt out of the stings and by the end of the day all that is left of the stings is a small welt that is usually gone in a few days.”
I had the great pleasure of showing Ira and Woodrow the popping seeds recently. Ira took to it like a duck to water. He’s kept his eyes out for the pretty blooms now that he knows how much fun the seeds are. Woodrow was too interested in the rocks on the road to care about the pods, but I’m sure he will enjoy them in the future.
Last night’s video: You’ll Never Believe What Showed Up at Our House || September Charm.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
Learning Jewelweed’s folk names like Lady’s Eardrops alongside the popping seed pods is half the fun of the walk. Cheryl’s witch hazel or vodka steep for stings and poison ivy is the practical tip I will actually try.
I had no idea Jewelweed had so many folk names, Lady’s Eardrops is a lovely one. The popping seed pods are still the best part of finding it on a walk.
I’ve only ever heard it referred to as jewelweed or impatiens. The species pictured is Impatiens capensis, can be a bit weedy but otherwise such an easy plant to spot!
I was thrilled to know the name of this childhood-memory plant. I completely forgot about it until a few years ago and have been trying to reimagine how it looked. It grew on the bank of the creek across from our southeastern KY home. We called it Touch Me Not. I loved to find the flowers and pop their pods. I can still feel that gentle movement between my fingers. Now I know again how it looks—and its other name. Sweet. Thank you!
That is so cute about those grandbabies and the touch me knots and rocks. Thanks for the information on making up the tincture. I didn’t know the weed had any use but fun to pop pods and pretty flowers. Funny how “weeds” often have such pretty flowers. My grandmother had the annual touch me knot plants growing in her yard and we would pop the pods as kids as well. She never had to worry about putting out more flower seeds. Her grandchildren took care of that for her. I have some peonies that belonged to great-grandmothers and I have no guesses where they got them, so I don’t know their actual ages. I wouldn’t take anything for them and baby them. I have no idea how long a peony can live? My grandmother and her mother always called them Piney Roses.
Hmmm.
I wonder if Cheryl’s concoction works on fire ant bites. We are plagued by them. I’m allergic to the bites of both varieties. When bitten – and it’s always by a bunch at the same time; they seem to have a bugler who sounds the ‘bite ’em’ alarm – I immediately wash with soap then put deodorant on the bites. That usually stops the pain and itching, but the welts last for weeks.
Have the fire ants found their way into Appalachia?
They are in the area thankfully I haven’t seen any right here 🙂
Robert, we have had them for years in my area of SC. If I was allergic to them I would have been dead along time ago. I know of nothing that will truly completely kill a mound of them, I have been told the ants have underground tunnels and will just move to another mound. Armadillos (possums on a half shell) are beginning to show up around here. I have seen mounds torn up maybe by them and don’t see as many ants. I won’t recommend this to anyone, but sometimes plain old cussing seems to help me, just depends how many bit me!!!
Robert, Fire Ants do seem to continue to move north. They are invasive and of the devil. If their mound is disturbed, they will swarm you and repeatedly sting you, causing some pustule welts and sores. They can harm pets and livestock who get into a mound and cause pain, sores and respiratory distress from swelling if repeated stings usually to the face because they have usually put their nose into a mound. They are also attracted to electrical current and can get into wiring and get into juction boxes, etc outside your home. We lived further down south for a time and I dread when they catch up to us again. I know they are marching like Grant burning Atlanta. In summary, check you state extension website on what to use to Kill these devil ants. And I mean what poison to kill them. I am unaware of any kind home brew that will touch them. I have heard of pouring hot grits, boiling water, gasoline, diesel fuel and all types of other concoctions on them. Nope. Poison manufactured to kill them. Poison. If you see them, kill them. No good can come from them. 🙂
Before moving from Raleigh, I experienced fire ants at the NC coast around Morehead City. We didn’t have them in Raleigh, where I lived, when I moved to Florida. The were abundant there. I then moved to a Houston suburb where the pastures nearby had thousands of mounds. The Brazos River flooded the first year we were there; there were huge floating rafts of fire ants . . . a scene straight from Hades.
We have them here in central Texas, too. We use and insecticide on the mounds and use a perimeter control. It works until the next rain. The problem is that once an area is cleared of them, if neighbors don’t treat at the same time, they return from neighboring property.
You’ve brought back childhood memories of popping touch me not seeds. Thank you!
Jewel weed is beautiful and I love how you are passing down the joy of popping the seeds to Ira and Woodrow. That’s just one of the special memories they will have from Mamaw! ❤
Witch hazel or vodka with an infusion of touch-me-not, you say? Almost sounds like the spinster Baldwin ladies on The Waltons, who used to add herbal essences to their moonshine, their rascal crooked lawyer of a father, Judge Baldwin, having assured them that the concoction was “medicinal” and subject to different rules from those of just ordinary booze.
I wonder if the Baldwin ladies medicine would help with my arthritis. I have been a tee totaler all of my life, but sometimes the pain makes me think of Dr. Red Dot or a bullet. The Walton tv show was one of my favorite shows.
The garden/flower walk was so enjoyable. Thank you for taking the time to share your beautiful landscape of nature’s beauty with us. There is such a feeling of reverence that washes over me when I’m wandering my acres and taking in the beautiful sites and soaking up “the calm”. The 2 grand-cats that I took in early last November keep me company no matter what I’m doing outside. I absolutely adore watching you delight Ira and Woody with little tidbits of entertainment and knowledge. Takes me back many years to doing the same thing with my 3 grandkids. I’m such a lucky “Mommer” to have them in my life♡ I was invited to breakfast earlier this morning by my grandson and his friend since Jr high. I’m blessed that at 24 he thinks of me and they both enjoy my company enough to invite me along. I’m off to roll walnuts to get them out of my yard before mowing this week. Thankfully, after the monumental masting of an outrageous amount of nuts last season, this year is on the lighter side.
I think those boys got their mothers mixed up. Katie needs the rock hound and Corie needs the plant guy!
Have a great weekend.
The touch me nots are beautiful. They do look like a lady’s slipper or earring. We are too west to have them, but they sure are pretty and sound like lots of fun!
This is a flower I do not recall ever seeing, but Google says it does grow in our state, so I will have to keep my eye out for it. I’m very intrigued about how the seed pods pop open. It sounds so fun to experience that! I can imagine Ira was absolutely tickled by that discovery you showed him.
Jewel weed looks like tiny lady slippers to me and that’s what I called it before learning it’s jewel weed. ANYTHING that gets rid of poison ivy is indeed a JEWEL!!! The tincture sounds like something worth making and having on hand. I tell people all the time how very different children are and a couple could have 20 and there would be NONE the same. I’m reminded of this as you share Ira was into popping seed pods while Woodrow was interested in rocks. To me, all people are different and interesting. That’s what makes the world go around. Have a blessed day. There’s a ROD RUN at Pigeon Forge this weekend and if RANDY’S wheelchair was “souped up” he could lay rubber with the best of ‘em! Here’s to you, brother! Lol Be blessed yall and tell yourself over and over “I have a wonderful life!” It really helps to say it all throughout the day or it does me anyway…
Sadie, I was not aware of the Rod Run this week. I go to church with a man and his son that have restored and most likely souped or hopped up some cars. They usually go every year to the Rod Run. With my luck the cop would probably be in a bad mood and write me a ticket if I layer rubber and squealed the tires with my hot rod wheel chair. Sadie I graduated high school in 1972. We had no middle school so high school was from 1968 -1972. The golden years of the Muscle Cars. The few boys with these cars and one girl with her brother’s SS 396 Chevelle ( he was in Vietnam) would leave out of the school parking lot with the cars sideways smoking the back tires. Most of these cars were posti traction with 4 speed manual transmissions. About all of these cars would “ bark the tires” in all 4 gears. Sonic Maximum 60 was the favorite back tire, it was wider than anything other tire at that time.
Enjoyed reading about jewel weed
I don’t remember how I first learned about touch-me-nots, but I do know that I loved popping every one I could find. It’s funny how simple things like popping touch-me-nots, or pretending milkweed pods were fish, kept us entertained for hours when we were little.
I expect a body can cut or break off a jewel weed stem to put the sap on an itch or sting as soon as it happens when out and about. I’m more inclined all the time to steer clear of complex chemical compositions.
I love seeing jewel weed growing wild in the side ditches and untamed areas throughout the country side, never knew their name or how entertaining they could be until Tipper wrote about them, this blog and YouTube channel have taught me so many things!
Prayers for all the community here and people mentioned on the live, may God watch over us and cover us with healing, peace, and strength.
Tipper, your posts about flowers bring back memories of my Mother and Grandmother. Both had yards full of flowers. Mother also had a house full of African Violets. I like flowers but truthfully many of the flowers you show or write about are no more than weeds to me. I have no idea of the names for these flowers. I do remember Mother talking about “touch me nots” and threatening me with bodily harm if I cut any of them down when cutting the grass! I live on my maternal Grandparents home place and have a peony on it my Grandmother set out. It is at least 73 years old. When I was a child and the peony would bloom, Grandmother didn’t threaten me with bodily harm, but flat out promised to kill me if I messed with the blooms! Now with both of them gone, I never knew or realized how something as simple as a flower could or would bring back so many happy memories of them. Just another memory of my past life and people I miss so bad.
Yesterday, my son bought me an almost new wheelchair he had picked up for $25 at a Goodwill store. I told that is perfect except for one thing, using it will require him or someone else to be with me and push it. He said he didn’t think about that and wondered if he could return it and get his money back. Absolutely no respect at all! I don’t know where he learned this, surely not from me, maybe his mother! This is just an example of how we love to tease and joke with one another. It has 4 small wheels instead of the large wheels I can turn myself. I am going to keep it and keep looking, I will find one soon, maybe this weekend.
Randy, if you could rig up a lawn mower engine and a steering wheel for that chair, you’d have something!
Gene, funny you write that, I was teasing my son, James last night and telling him I now needed a souped up racing go kart engine, swap out the rear tires for some cheater slicks, paint flames and put a STP oil additive sticker on it and I would be ready to go!
I sent you an offline email this morning. I teased another member a day or two ago about living near Hogwalla- Walhalla. Last night 6 of the old store buildings on Main Street were destroyed by fire.
Your grandmother’s peonies made me smile. We have a peony in our front yard that I protect with all the threats and coaxing I can make in the spring time. I have yet to be successful keeping my girls from picking many. At least this year they didn’t pick it bare!
I am glad you got your wheelchair even if it is a temporary one. I hope you find one that is just right soon! And we will continue to pray for healing for you and all who need it. ❤️
Meg, I baby and cover it to protect it from the frost in early spring. The peony has big white blooms. Maybe you need to be like my grandmother, she used her brush broom to make a believer out of me. You are probably too young to remember when folks would sweep their bare dirt yard with a broom made from a tree /brush top or in my case a bamboo cane. They didn’t want a blade of grass in their yard. I would give a gold Guinea to go back and relive some of those times again.