Herb to Know: Jewelweed

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The small, showy flowers of both jewelweed species have long, nectar-filled spurs. Flowers of spotted jewelweed are orange with spotted throats and are usually borne in twos; those of pale jewelweed are pale yellow, one per flower stalk. The nineteenth-century ornithologist Alexander Wilson reported the pale jewelweed to be a favorite of hummingbirds.

Both species are found from Newfoundland to Saskatchewan and south to South Carolina, Alabama, and Oklahoma. Pale jewelweed prefers shady spots in deep, moist woods; spotted jewelweed tolerates more light and is found in both shady and sunny locations along ponds, brooks, and roadsides and in damp meadows. Here in Ohio, seedlings emerge in early June, and the plant remains green until frost.

Medicinal Properties

Jewelweed is arguably the best natural remedy for poison ivy, and especially in the Midwest and South, poison ivy and jewelweed grow in similar habitats and often are found together. The Potawatomi and tribes of the Appalachian area used jewelweed to prevent reactions to poison ivy and to treat any sores that developed. Some Native Americans apparently believed that drinking a cup of tea made from mature jewelweed plants in late August or early September would protect them against poison ivy for the following year. Early American settlers learned about jewelweed from the Native Americans, using the juice to treat various itches including those of athlete’s foot and dandruff, now known to be fungal in origin. In New Englands Rarities Discovered (1672), John Josselyn reported that the colonists considered jewelweed a “sovereign remedy for bruises of what kind soever.” Jewelweed’s reputation in treating a wide variety of external ills has landed it in many herbals and folk remedy books as well as in some commercial poison-ivy preparations.

Besides having a foul taste, jewelweed tea is emetic, cathartic, and diuretic, which could be dangerous for some people. The plant is safest and most effective when used as an external wash, poultice, or salve.

Perhaps because of the risk involved in taking jewelweed internally, the last mention of the herb in The U.S. Dispensatory was in the 24th edition (Lippincott, 1947), in which it was stated to be “efficacious in the treatment of Rhus [poison ivy and poison oak] poisoning.” The 21st edition (Lippincott, 1926) mentions the experience of practitioners in Philadelphia in treating hemorrhoids with an ointment made by boiling fresh jewelweed in lard. Potter’s New Cyclopedia of Medicinal Herbs and Preparations (Harper and Row, 1972) mentions this use and reports the herb’s reputed effectiveness as a topical treatment for warts and corns. A study at the University of Vermont about 1950 showed jewelweed to have potent antifungal properties, confirming its use as a treatment for athlete’s foot, ringworm, and dandruff.

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