Stomping Through the Weeds
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Hudson Valley Parent 17
"Oh, yes. Mom cut one plant and rubbed
the inside of it against my arm when I had
poison ivy. It felt cool and wet."
"Right, that's jewelweed. If you touch that
seed pod when it's ripe, the walls of the pod
curl up like springs, and then the seeds fly
through the air."
They both looked through the branches
of the jewelweed, to find the fattest pods.
When Robin tapped the pod in his hand,
the seeds burst out. Willow ate the seeds
she had in her hand.
"If you watch the birds, you will see
them eating lots of seeds. In fact, that's
another way the plants get around."
The jewelweed pods can coil back to
eject their seeds.