Search This Blog

Total Pageviews

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

9/14/10 TOUCH-ME-NOT

MIXED METAPHORS
IMPATIENS BIFLORA...
GETS TO BE A LARGE ANNUAL PLANT

Tuesday, 8:00 AM. 49 degrees, wind W, light. The sky is mostly overcast but the barometer is up.
Jewel weed (Impatiens biflora) in the Balsam family, is a native annual plant found in wet places. The flowers and foliage are quite attractive. Its other common name, touch-me-not, refers to the rather explosive way the little seeds are dispersed when the ripe seed pods are touched. Children (and big kids like myself) get quite a kick out of this. The juice of the plant has a reputation as an antidote for poison ivy (and other rashes) and was so used by many Indian tribes. There are over four hundred species in the Impatiens genus, most of them native to India.

No comments:

Post a Comment