The wild ‘Touch Me Not’ or Impatiens capensis. This plant is amazing as a natural poison ivy treatment. Take the stems of the plants and crush them open with your hands to release the juice from the stems. Rub this liquid on poison ivy for relief of itching, removal of oil and healing. I have harvested this plant and extracted this juice from the stems. I place it in small ice trays and freeze it. You can take one piece out and the juice, along with the cold temperature of being frozen, is a welcome relief to the irritations of poison ivy. Something else this plant is useful for: take a few leaves and chew them for awhile. This is a very good remedy for constipation.

The juice from the stems in this plant have been used to relieve the itch of athlete’s foot as well. This plant can grow 2-5 feet tall and often grows along streams. The flowers are most often orange (as seen below in the picture I took) or sometimes yellow. Flowers are about 1′ long. It blooms from mid-Summer to early Fall. It will grow in light shade to partial sun, in moist areas.

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