Jewelweed - which can be one of two plants, Spotted Touch-me-not ( Impatiens capensis), which is bright orange, and Pale Touch-me-not (I. pallida), which is yellow - is a member of the Touch-me-not Family (Balsaminaceae). These two species account for the majority of this family in North America. The entire family consists of only 2 genera, and 500 species. As the generic name suggests, it shares the family tree with a popular ornamental.
Members of the Touch-me-not Family are often soft, somewhat succulent herbs with leafy translucent stems. The flowers are bilaterally symmetrical and often nodding. They have 3 to 5 sepals, which often resemble petals. One sepal forms a backward-projecting nectar-bearing spur. There are 5 petals and 5 stamens. The lower petals are larger than the upper, and the pairs at the sides are united. The 5 stamens are joined, and form a cup over the pistil.
The leaves are simple, opposite or whorled.
The fruit produced is my beloved "explodable pod", capsules that often become elastic as they mature. Seeds are contained in 5 chambers in each pod, and are dispersed when the pod explodes.
Both types of Jewelweed grow from Canada south to Georgia, the orange variety as far west as Oklahoma, the yellow variety to Missouri.
The Barberry Family (Berberidaceae), a little larger than the Touch-me-not Family with 9 genera and about 600 species, provides us some of our spring wildflowers. Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides), Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla), Umbrella-leaf (Diphylleia cymosa), and Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), welcome sights in the woods each spring, are all members of this family.
Plants in the Barberry Family are herbs and shrubs. Flowers grow in clusters or racemes, and the leaves are often spiny. Some species are grown as ornamentals, and Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) is a necessary part of the complex life cycle of wheat rust. (The fungus spends part of its life cycle on this plant, the remainder on wheat grains.)
Flowers are radially symmetrical with 4 to 6 sepals and petals, and 4 to 18 stamens. The stamens grow in 2 circles, with pollen sacs that open by little flaps. The leaves of these plants are simple or compound, and the fruit produced is a berry.
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