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THURSDAY. JUNE 17. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Plants of the Southeast
“Touch-me-not," “Jewel-weed,”
Impatiens capensis
Photo/Linda Lee
The flowers of Jewel-weed are what we say are “highly
irregular,” exhibiting “bilateral” symmetry. (That is, if you
look at the flower from the front, you can see two equal
“halves,” right and left.)
By John Nelson
University of
South Carolina
A cool, foggy, summer
dawn several years ago found
me deep in a holler in eastern
West Virginia, starting a day
of botany.
It was Pocahontas County,
way up in the Monongahela
National Forest (not so far
from the Cass Scenic Moun
tain Railroad, which is worth
a visit). The plan was to
climb down a slope, next to a
trickling brook, in order to
look over the plant life of an
extensive beaver pond. Be
fore getting to the bottom, I
had to stop and admire this
jewel-like beauty.
Whether it’s called Touch-
me-not, Jewel-weed, Impa
tiens capensis is a native,
annual herb, up to five feet
tall, and abundantly
branched.
The leaves are somewhat
succulent and slick, silvery
below, and dew will bead up
on their surfaces, in drops,
glittering like diamonds.
Flowers are usually pro
duced individually, and each
bloom dangles, attached to a
thread-like stalk in the axil
of a flower. The flowers are
what we say are “highly ir
regular,” exhibiting “bilat
eral” symmetry. (That is, if
you look at the flower from
the front, you can see two
equal “halves,” right and left.
It turns out that most flowers
we see have “radial” symme
try, more or less resembling a
star, when viewed straight
on.).
One of the sepals in the
back produces a narrow, hol
low, tube-like spur, which
projects itself underneath the
flower toward the front,
something like a dog with its
tail between its legs.
The petals are brilliant or
ange, frequently spotted, and
the flower thus is one of our
showiest offerings that nature
provides. Hummingbirds and
various sorts of bees must
think the same thing, as they
frequently and enthusiasti
cally visit the blossoms.
Jewel-weed loves it damp,
and can be expected along
creeks, waterfalls, bogs and
shady wet woods all over
southern Canada, and south
to the Florida panhandle. It is
most common in the moun
tains and in the hills of the
piedmont, but it shows up in
the coastal plain now and
then, too. (It has a fairly close
relative with a similar distri
bution and ecology, but its
cousin has smaller, bright
yellow flowers, whose floral
spurs point straight down.
Sometimes the two cousins
grow together in the same
patch.)
Many of you gardeners
know other colorful (Impa-
tien) relatives, which are
commonly cultivated.
To me, these showy plants
are one of the best reasons to
spend time outdoors in the
summer. Just thinking about
the delicate, gem-like blos
soms and its cool, shaded
leaves seems to drop the tem
perature a degree or two. And
there is one more aspect of
this plant that makes it even
more wonderful.
Small, smooth capsules
follow the flowers. These
capsules are what the
botanists say are “elastically
dehiscent,” an attribute that is
easily observed. The slightest
touch will cause the ripe pods
to immediately snap open
along a number of narrow
valves, these instantly coiling
backward. As they coil, the
seeds are flung outward, well
away from the parent plant.
What a wonderful treat to
behold. Almost as good as
lightning-bugs. ©JohnNel-
son2021
[John Nelson is the retired
curator of the A. C. Moore
Herbarium at the University
of South Carolina, in the De
partment of Biological Sci
ences, Columbia SC 29208.
As a public service, the
Herbarium offers free plant
identifications. For more in
formation, visit www.herbar-
ium.org or email
johnbnelson@sc. rr. com.]
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