Orange Jewelweed: Orange Cheer of Impatiens capensis Summer to Autumn

Summary: Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) is a New World annual native to Canada and the U.S. Cornucopia-shaped flowers dazzle in jeweled orange-yellow colors.

orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Impatiens capensis is a New World flowering plant native to Canada and the continental United States.

Except for Labrador in the east and Nunavut in the north, the jeweled annual claims homelands throughout Canada.

Impatiens capensis ranges across the United States’ Lower 48, except for Montana and Wyoming in the Northern Mountain West; Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah in the American Southwest.

Impatiens capensis is known commonly in English as Orange Balsam, Orange Jewelweed, Spotted Jewelweed, or Spotted Touch-Me-Not.

The summer-to-autumn flowering annual especially thrives in moist, humusy soils and tolerates full sun to full shade.

Habitats include wetlands such as creek sides, river floodplains and swamps, as well as moist ecosystems in ditches, lowlands, roadsides, thickets, and woodland edges and openings. Orange Jewelweed is undaunted by disturbed habitats, including burned areas.

Orange Jewelweed measures heights ranging from 2 to 5 feet (0.6 to 1.5 meters), with spreads of 1.5 to 2.5 feet (0.45 to 0.762 meters).

Wimpiness of translucent green to red-green stems responds easily to accidental uprooting or to weeding.

Thin-textured, green or blue-green leaves grow alternately along the stem. Pleasingly proportioned, leaves are hairless and oval, with coarsely-toothed margins.

Flowers open in mid-summer as rear-spurred cornucopias with showy orange-yellow colors with red-brown spots. Held horizontal, the jeweled flowers dangle delicately via drooping pedicels (Latin: pedicellus, “small foot,” diminutive of pes, “foot”) from axils, upper angles between leaf stalks and stems.

Five-sectioned, oblong seed capsules succeed the autumnal end of flowering. The common name of Touch-Me-Not acknowledges touch-sensitivity of ripe seed capsules, which explosively spew seeds while splitting open.

Orange Jewelweed attracts a plethora of wildlife. Insect visitors include bees, especially bumblebees (Bombus spp.), and butterflies, such as Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus).

Game bird visitors include Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) and Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus). Orange Jewelweed also attracts hummingbirds, such as Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris).

Mammals also patronize Orange Jewelweed. Small- and medium-sized mammal visitors range from White-Footed Mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) to White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

Orange Jewelweed also attracts humans. Native American ethnobotany especially focuses on palliative, soothing qualities of the stem’s mucilaginous sap.

Juice extracted from leaves and stems treats rashes from poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) and poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) as well as such skin irritations as mosquito bites.

Young leaves and stems may be enjoyed in fresh salads or as steamed vegetables.

Young, green seed pods are edible as raw or stir-fried treats.

Tiny seeds have a nutty flavor mildly reminiscent of walnuts.

Orange Jewelweed has been a captivating constant in my life's landscapes since childhood.

Nowadays Orange Jewelweed flowers bejewel the summer and early autumn vistas of the ephemeral creek that meanders along my lawn's western perimeter and of the lush field on my lawn's northern rim.

illustration of orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) with Papilio sectator by Dutch botanist and illustrator Johannes Meerburgh (bapt. Feb. 3, 1734-March 20, 1814); Afbeeldingen van Zeldzaame Gewassen (1775), plate X: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orange_Jewelweed,_Ottawa.jpg

illustration of orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) with Papilio sectator by Dutch botanist and illustrator Johannes Meerburgh (bapt. Feb. 3, 1734-March 20, 1814); Afbeeldingen van Zeldzaame Gewassen (1775), plate X: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/285499

For further information:

Feldt, Linda Diane. “Wildcrafting: Capturing wild food: Jewelweed, a fun and silly plant to play with.” The Ann Arbor News > Entertainment > Food – Drink. July 29, 2009.
Available @ http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/capturing-wild-food---a-fun-and-silly-plant-to-play-with/

Meerburgh, Nicolaas. Afbeeldingen van Zeldzaame Gewassen. Leyden [Leiden, Netherlands]: Johannes Le Mair, MDCCLXXV (1775).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/10254

Seymour, Tom. Foraging New England: Edible Wild Food and Medicinal Plants from Maine to the Adirondacks to Long Island Sound. A Falcon Guide. Second edition. Guilford CT: Morris Book Publishing, 2013.