THE JEWEL-WEED FAMILY. 



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petioles; ovate or elliptical, pointed or blunt at the apex, coarsely toothed; thin, 

 pale and glaucous underneath. Stems : much branched, tender, purplish. 



In an old publication more replete with sentiment than many that are 

 now seen the jewel-weed, under 

 the name of the " Hummint,^-bird 

 Tree," is described as follows : 



" This plant the humming-bird 

 feedeth upon, it groweth in wet 

 ground and is not at its full growth 

 till July, and then it is two cubits 

 high and better, the leaves are thin 

 and of a pale green colour, some 

 of them as big as a nettle leaf, it K t-,r: »'' 



spreads into many branches, knotty ■ ; _' , ^4 



at the setting on, and of a purple "if,' '' ' 



colour, and garnished at the top , ■ -i . . 3 



with many hollow, dangling flow- •••■••;v/. ^ 



ers, speckled with deeper yellow as - J 



if it were shadowed, the stalks are ' 



all hollow as a kix and so are the 

 roots which are transparent, very 

 tender and full of a yellowish 

 juice." 



Indeed no lovelier wild flower 

 grows than the jewel-weed, and 

 delicate though it appears, it some- 

 times grows in moist places to a 

 height of five or six feet. Many jcivcl-wccd. 



leaves as being able to cure the effects of 



Its 



country people now regard 

 poison ivy. 



/. aurea, pale touch-me-not, is very similar to the other species but grows 

 taller and stouter and has its flowers less spotted with brown, they some- 

 times being quite without dots of any sort. That both of these plants are 

 called touch-me-not is in reference to the way their pods burst open and 

 coil up thus scattering the seeds, whenever jarred by the slightest touch. 



