Impatiens capensis (Jewelweed) - photos and description
Origin: Native.
General: Large annual wetland plants, with leafy stems, stems hollow, often reddish in colour. Plants glabrous.
Flowers: Flowers yellow to yellow-orange, unspotted or spotted red. Flowers' sepal sac tapers abruptly to a spur. we measured the spur at 15 mm long by 10 mm wide (2/3 as wide as long), the flower was 25 mm long, and 18 mm across at the throat. Flowers grow in clusters of 2-4 in upper leaf axils.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, ovate, toothed, leaf highlighted above was 8 cm long and 4.5 cm wide.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 150 cm, we measured plants to 125 cm tall.
Habitat: Banks of streams and lakes, edges of beaver swamps, wetlands, thickets.
Abundance: Common.
Similar species: Very similar to Impatiens
noli-tangere (Yellow Touch-me-not). Vascular Flora of Alberta
identifies the two species in a straightforward way:
- Impatiens capensis has a sepal sac that abruptly narrows to a
spur; sepal sac 15-18 mm long, sepal sac >= 2/3 as wide as long.
- Impatiens noli-tangere has a sepal sac that gradually narrows
to a spur; sepal sac 20 mm long, sepal sac < 1/2 as wide as long.
When and where photographed: The above photos were taken July 21st, along beaver dams, Duck Mountain Provincial Park, 300 km north east of our home in Regina, SK.