Exploding seed pods.
Native remedy for poison ivy.
Neither well-known trait is readily apparent in early spring.
Rather, one comes to know the jewelweed along Little Crum Creek as a numerous but delicate and easily uprooted plant, bejeweling raindrops on repellant leaves of succulent chutes, and otherwise wilting worrisomely in the sunlight heat.
Its fragility, resilience, and recovery inspire a gentle watchfulness, even a tested vigilance.
Nonetheless, many a vulnerable weed succumbs to a sneaking, creeping vine’s smother and tug.
April, May, June, July. 
By August, we’ve cultivated quite a patient acquaintance.
But only a flower, finally, will fully reveal to me the plant’s identity.
Then, suddenly, some unassuming afternoon in the maple shade, a low breeze displaces a leaf and shows to me a flowering face:
Impatiens pallida,
pale touch-me-not,
yellow jewelweed.
Very pleased to finally meet.
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