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Recently, Mary Alice and I went for a ride and stopped to see a friend. When I got out of the truck I noticed jewelweeds plants growing in a ditch. Mary Alice asked what I was looking at, and I placed a pod in her hand.
The pod promptly exploded. I had a flashback to the first time I had a jewelweed seed pod explode in my hand. After that episode, I would look for jewelweed plants so I could touch the seed pods, causing them to explode and throw their seeds into the air.
You might know the jewelweed plant by its more common name of touch-me-nots. The red-flecked, orange flowers (impatiens capensis), and the yellow flowers (impatiens pallida) are found growing along streams and wet openings. The name impatiens comes from the way the seeds are jettisoned out of their pods.
The name of jewelweed comes from its sparkling like a jewel when the sun shines on the dew or rain covered plant. By September, the seed pods of the jewelweed are ripe and explode at just the slightest touch. The seeds are then shot into the air, sometimes as far as six feet. This gives the plant another common name, that of touch-me- not.
Since the plant grows along streams, the plant uses the stream to float its seeds for long distances. The large capsules, which the seeds grow in, contain three to five seeds that are eaten by several types of birds. Can you imagine how surprised a bird is when pecking at a seed capsule and it explodes?
The plant is cross-pollinated in the typical way, with bees, insects and even hummingbirds going after the sweet nectar of the flower. In doing so, they are coated with pollen, which is carried to the next plant, completing cross-pollination.
The plant also has a built-in back up system for cross-pollination. The flower functions as a male when it first opens. After the first day, the flower drops the male unit (anther), which exposes the female unit (stigma). Because each flower progresses from entirely a male phase to an entirely female phase, self-fertilization is prevented and cross-fertilization is insured.
So even if we had a year without insects, the jewelweed plant would still be cross-pollinated.
Now, if that is not amazing enough there is more. The plant produces another flower that is very tiny, growing from the axils of the leaves. This small flower is called cleistogamous, which is a Greek word meaning hidden marriage. The large flowers growing at the end of the stems are called chasma, which is a Greek word meaning opening. Individual plants produce both types of flowers. The tiny flowers never open to admit insects and are self-pollinated. They have no nectar and only a few grains of pollen.
Why would a plant have two types of flowers? To understand why, you need to know something about the plant. It grows mostly everywhere there is moisture, hence, it is classified as a weed. The seed, which weighs less than 1,000th of an ounce, will start to grow in March and by August, the plant could reach six feet in height. By growing so quickly, the plant does not have time to develop a woody stem.
Instead it has a hollow stem that is held erect by turgor pressure, meaning the cells are held up from pressure within the plant. If you've ever crushed the plant, you know the stem is full of juice, and this juice is what holds the plant erect.
The juice is also a very good antidote for poison ivy, stinging nettles and insect bites. Modern testing has found that the juice contains chemicals that are considered fungicides. Crush any part of the plant and rub it on the skin where contact has been made with any of the fore-mentioned problems.
This works because the sap is extremely alkaline and the irritation from each of the problems arises from a quick dose high in acidity. Jewelweed sap is best used before the body sets up its own immune reaction (before the poison ivy begins to itch). If used in time, there is a good chance of completely neutralizing whatever the problem is.
Jewelweed juice can soothe even after the itch begins.
The plant has the ability to stop growing and channel its energy into flowers and seeds. This is important because during either a poor growing season or drought, the plant will only grow to a height of approximately two feet; however, the plant will have as many flowers as one that has grown to six feet tall. This ability assures the jewelweed plant that enough seeds are set each year to insure that the plant grows during the next season.
Although both flowers produce seeds every year, the cross-pollinated flowers produce the superior seeds. No matter what happens, the plant always produces seeds. I'll bet you thought that humans came up with the phrase fail-safe.
How we can classify a plant with so many amazing abilities as a weed is beyond my understanding. During September and October, introduce your child or grandchild to the jewelweed plant. Have the child touch the seedpod and watch his or her expression as the seed pod explodes.
Not only will you be sowing seeds for the plant, you just could be planting a seed in the youngster's mind, a seed for the love of nature.
Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.