Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 197 



JEWEL-WEED FAMILY (Balsaminaceae). 



JEWEL-WEED; SPOTTED TOUCH-ME-NOT (Jm- 

 patiens biflora) is a common rank-growing herb with 

 a stout, but fragile, branching stem. It has many pe- 

 culiarities and a great many local names, all of which 

 pertain to some of these peculiarities. Its most com- 

 mon name of Jewel-weed is very appropriate, as the 

 flowers certainly do resemble jeweled pendants hang- 

 ing from the slender branches. The large, inflated 

 sac, whih is really one of the three sepals, is orange- 

 yellow, spotted with brown; it is longer than it is 

 broad and has a sharply incurved spur about half the 

 length of the sac. Two of these singular flowers 

 droop from the ends of each thread-like peduncle, but 

 only one flowers at a time. 



The slim seed-pod is the cause of two very com- 

 monly applied names, Touch-me-not and Snapweed. 

 When nearly ripe, these pods can scarcely be touch- 

 ed but <w&at they will suddenly, almost explosively, 

 burst and scatter their seeds in all directions. One 

 not acquainted with their ways, is always startled 

 when he accidentally brushes against the mature 

 Touch-me-not. 



The leaves are very delicate in appearance, and 

 their light, slender stems are almost translucent; 

 they are ovate, round-toothed, dull green above and 

 whitish-green below; owing to the coloring of the 

 leaves, Jewel-weed is often locally called "Silver-leaf." 

 The stem is hollow and juicy, and stained with red- 

 dish. 



PALE TOUCH-ME-NOT (Impatiens pallida) is very 

 similar. The flower pouch, however, is paler and 

 with few or no brown spots, the sac is as wide as it 

 is long, and the curved spur is less than one-third the 

 length of the sac. The stem is light green. Both 

 species are common in moist, shady places through- 

 out the United States. 



