Jewelweed for Poison Ivy

Jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, is an annual plant used to treat skin rashes. Like Poison Oak or Ivy. I thought to myself, "Why not plant some in the garden?" These are orange flowers with dark red dots, also called "Spotted touch-Me-Nots". The seeds will 'pop' when touched , that is where the name Touch-Me-Nots came from. I love folklore plant names, don't you? The flowers bloom from May through October. Hmm, skin rash treatment, pretty plant, long bloom time...BONUS! I love dual natured garden plants, beautiful and edible or medicinal.

Here's a post from "Gardenweb" which describes how they use it;
"for the infused oil use a 1/3 c of dried plant material , put it in a mason jar or something like that. anyway, add enough good quality olive oil to fully cover the plant material. Then check the jar after several hours to see if the herb has absorbed all the oil. if all the oil has been absorbed add another inch or so. then cover the jar with an unbleached coffee filter and secure it with a rubberband. let the oil infuse in a window sill for 10 days. then strain the plant material and compost it."

Other sites say that some people have adverse reactions to jewelweed in oil. They recommend brewing the leaves and stems as a tea and putting it in bath water...do not drink the tea, this is an externally used herb.

I found my seeds at the same French site that I ordered from in the previous post, for the sake of convenience. I'm certain that these seeds could be found locally, although I did check three garden supply shops without finding it. I was impatient for impatiens so I shopped online. I do try to purchase locally when possible.