When I stepped out for an early morning walk in the cool air, l immediately heard the unmistakable three-note slur of the Eastern Wood-Pewee: “Pee-a-wee!” Hearing that clear and repeated call, “Pee-a-wee!” this morning is remarkable since, this is the first time I’ve heard the Eastern Wood-Pewee in our neighborhood since moving here three years ago. I can only hope this skillful flycatcher will hang around our backyard for the rest of the summer, before his annual return to South America at the summer’s end.
The flower in today’s photo is the Spotted Touch-Me-Not, also known as Jewelweed, or Impatiens carpensis. I found this specimen growing along a shady, damp forrest path in a dense stand of plants of the same species. They thrive in the moist, compacted soil along Ellerbee Creek, not far from our house. The common name Jewelweed refers to its showy orange-and-yellow flowers — each flower hanging suspended underneath it’s own broad leaf — as if a jewel at the end of a dangly earring. Complementing the yellow-orange jewel of a flower, transparent orbs of morning dew sparkle atop the hydrophobic surface of the broad green leaves. The alternative common name for Impatiens carpensis, Spotted Touch-Me-Not, refers to the seed pod bursting open at even the slightest touch. The genus name, Impatiens, is Latin for “impatience,” which also refers to the taut, spring-loaded, and, as it were impatient, small seed pod, which explodes with surprisingly powerful force, at even the slightest touch.
I knew as a kid, playing in our shady suburban Chicagoland backyard, how fun it can be to ever so slightly squeeze the small ripe seed pods of impatiens and watch them explode — scattering tiny specks of seeds everywhere. But the common, garden center impatiens I knew as a child, are not our New World native, but Impatiens walleriana, a species native to Eastern Africa. (I just had to check origin of the species name, walleriana, and discovered that the Latinized name honors English clergyman and anti-slavery activist, Horace Waller (1833-1986), who spent much of his life in Eastern Africa.)
Impatiens carpensis is widely distributed in the Eastern U.S. and Canada. In many ways, it’s a gift that keeps on giving. The young shoots can be cooked as greens, and American Indian tribes knew how to use the sap from the stem and leaves to relieve itching and pain from hives, poison ivy, stinging nettle, and other skin sores and irritations. As recently reported in peer-reviewed literature, the medicinal metabolites of Impatiens carpensis are now identified and their biological activities confirmed.
Daily, lately, I’ve had the loving, sage guidance from both Eckhart (c.1260- c.1328) and Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926-2022). I marvel at how the wisdom in their words reveals continually deeper levels of meaning which connects to, well… everything — and the ground of everything. What they speak of is like the “pearl of great price” — an image brought to mind by today’s golden Jewelweed flower.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Matthew’s Gospel
The more I turn to Eckhart’s Counsels and Sermons, it seems the slower is my progress. Sometimes I cannot get beyond one sentence, or even one phrase in one sentence. It seems an intolerably long time will be required for the wisdom in the words to percolate or seep into the dense layers of what I call “me.” And, like the seed pod of our woodland Impatiens carpensis, there’s impatience with the waiting — with the awaiting something to happen, as awaiting a new birth.
And when it does, who knows? Will there be an explosion of new tiny seeds for a next round of being?
tgholt.net 