Sunday, August 17, 2008

13. Spotted Touch-Me-Not


These lovely little orange flowers are Impatiens capensis. Also called "jewelweed" and "quick-in-the-hand," Spotted Touch-Me-Not has seed capsules that, when ripe (in autumn), burst at the merest touch, scattering seeds all around. Also historically used as a remedy for hemorrhoids, among a few other complaints.

3 comments:

Onoclea sensibilis said...

Hey! I was going to do that one tomorrow! None of my close-ups came out good enough though.

One question: are you reading a book on hemmorhoid remedies? That's just too funny that so many of your plants are historically used in that particular ailment.

Christina said...

No, really, I'm not! But I enjoy reading A Modern Herbal at (dammit, you're going to make me practice posting a link in a comment, aren't you?) Botanical.com.

Hope that comes through okay. The link is to the hyper-text version of A Modern Herbal, first published in 1931, by Mrs. M. Grieve, contains Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-Lore of Herbs.

Christina said...

Should have been "which contains Medicinal, Culinary," etc.