Impatiens capensis or Jewelweed is a wildflower.
It is growing quite nicely along the dock over at my baby brothers home. It likes a bit of sun and lots of moisture to grow well. Flowers can be orange or yellow.
See the fleshy stem/stalk...the clear gelatinous substance inside is what kills the itch and spread of poison ivy. I pick the largest stalks and split them open with a knife. Some people will keep stalks in their freezer for the next years early poison ivy problems. We have a slurry in our fridge...one year Far Guy got some stalks and threw the whole stalk into the blender...it works great.
I managed to escape a huge outbreak of the Poison Ivy this year...I had three small spots...one should not touch sweaty cleavage with a lawn mowing glove. Lesson learned.
Far Side
One of my neighbors made us bars of Jewel Weed soap which we put on poison ivy and skeeter and bug bites. It really works. Just wet it and slide the soap over the itchy spot and let it dry.
ReplyDeleteIt is a useful and annoying plant! I have tons and let it grow now that I know it is useful.
so interesting. I have never heard of the jewelweed before. I looked it up and it shows to grow in Texas, near swampy areas. I may have seen it before, but just didn't know what it was. This is great as we have lots of poison ivy at the farm.
ReplyDeleteKnock wood, I didn't get any poison ivy on me this year. It was bad some years. I did the glove thing.
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd known about that when I had poison ivy - one of the worst experiences of my life!
ReplyDeleteWell, I learned something today! I did not know that helped poison ivy. We do not have any either on our property in South Dakota, but we sure had more than our fair share in Wisconsin!
ReplyDeleteI have never seen poison ivy. Maybe I'm just lucky. I don't think I'm familiar with jewelweed either.
ReplyDeleteI'm sensitive to poison ivy. If I get one spot, it will slowly work throughout the rest of my body over the next three or four months. I take some sort of medicine that sometimes works if I catch it soon enough. I'll have to look to see if we have any of this plant around here. I just stay away from the woods during this time of the year.
ReplyDeleteOh! My! Gosh! That had to be over-the-top Miserable!!!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of that plant. Fascinating!! The flower looks so delicate.
ReplyDeleteI think I’ve seen this here. I’ll look around during my walk. I needed it when my entire body was broke out. Hydrocortisone didn’t help much. I used a dozen tubes of it. Bet this would have helped more.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that the jewelweed counteracts poison ivy. Luckily I've never had to deal with poison ivy here. Glad it wasn't too bad this year.
ReplyDeleteOh how I detest poison ivy. I would get it so bad as a child, I only had to be downwind of it and would have a breakout. Not even touching the stuff! I had to get shots at the doctors office every week all summer long. Not fun for a little kid. Wish I had known of jewelweed and it's healing powers. Hands off the cleavage!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBlessings and hugs,
Betsy
Well that's interesting! How cool that nature provides remedies for the nasties it also produces.
ReplyDeleteThis is all new information to me. Thank you for posting it!
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about jewel weed for poison ivy!
ReplyDeleteWould it work on bee stings? :-) I don't have to worry about poison ivy but we did have poison oak growing up in Oregon.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that this pretty plant is also medicinal.
Never knew about jewelweed. Pretty plant, too. Any weed with colorful flowers is pretty to me. :)
ReplyDeleteNo poison ivy here, but I have heard how awful it can be. Isn't it great that Nature provides its own antidote?
ReplyDeleteThat's a new plant for me, also I am glad there is no poison ivy around here
ReplyDeleteLucky here that there is very little poison ivy. I've never seen it.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned the jewel weed bar of soap last year I think so I ordered some from Amazon. I've had Poison Ivy so bad that I almost had blood poisoning. The doctor said not to ever wait like that again to get in to see someone! Very allergic!
ReplyDeleteI am happy you have found some and have a good stash! I hope to never get poison ivy again and still have a supply of soap. I have shared your tip on jewelweed several times. Grandsons got Black Spot Poison Ivy (what a weird thing).
ReplyDeleteOh boy - how did I never hear about this! I will be on the look out for jewelweed. I am one of those very suspectable to poison ivy, I usually have to go get a shot as it gets so bad. I would love to "head it off at the pass"
ReplyDeleteI'm noticing Jewelweed in 2 of the parks where we walk. Must be the time of year when it blooms.
ReplyDeleteI always thought of these as mini-snapdragons.. you could squeeze them and make the mouths open just like snapdragons
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