---

Return

SPOTTED JEWEL WEED

NOMENCLATURE

Other Names: spotted jewel weed, touch-me-not

 Scientific Name: Impatiens biflora L. ; Impatiens capensis Meerb.

 Plant Family: Balsaminaceae

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Botanical Description: herbaceous

 Stems: smooth, reaching 1 - 4 foot height, upper portion branched

Leaves: soft, alternate, oval with pointed tip, finely toothed, pale or covered with flaky wax beneath

 Roots:

Flowers: are orange to reddish brown, on an inch-long drooping stem, cornucopia-shaped with 5 irregular petals and bloom June - September. Fruit is a dry capsule that breaks open with slight touch when mature.

 Seeds: In a 0.5 - 0.75 inch dry capsule, with longitudinal ridges, mottled green to brown.

 Seedling:

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

Not often a serious pest.

LIFE CYCLE

Reproduction: annual

 Propagation:

Dispersal:

DISTRIBUTION

State: Found in many moist soils throughout Wisconsin.

 National: Found as far south as South Carolina to Oklahoma, extending northwards into Canada.

 Origin: India

 

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Common to a variety of wetland habitats; can be found growing alongside cranberry drainage ditches and bed edges.

SCOUTING PROCEDURE/ET

While scouting a cranberry bed for disease and insect pests, identify weed populations as they arise. Note the specie(s) of weed present as well as the population level relative to field area. Example: 30% jewel weed, 20% boneset and joe-pye weed mix.

 

REFERENCES

Gleason, H. A. 1952. Illustrated Flora of the United States and Adjacent Canada. Vol 2. Lancaster Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. p. 512.

Kummer, L. D., T. G. Dittl, and T. D. Planer. 1993. Wisconsin Cranberry Weeds. Wisconsin Cranberry Board, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. p. 1.

 McGregor, R. L. 1986. Flora of the Great Plains. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. p. 583.

 

Return