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["Doc Lisenby" <longdistshtr@shtc.net>]

We call "Jewelweed", "Wild Columbine" down here. The delicate flowers are a 
light orange color.  It is common along streams and branches, especially 
those which transverse cultivated fields. Some folks eat it as a green in 
salads.  It is supposed to be a Native American remedy for poison ivy 
contact dermatitis and at one time it was an ingredient of a patent 
medicine.  I have also heard that the Native Americans fed their children 
poison ivy leaves to develop an immunity tolerance to it. (sic!)
The leaves shine when placed under water due to surface tension effect thus; 
"Jewelweed".  I felt slighted as a boy because I never developed sensitivity 
to poison ivy and couldn't try this remedy. I have recommended gently 
sandpapering the early vesicles and washing with lye soap before cortisone 
ointment came along. Calamine lotion looks like it helps and many people 
believe it works. It takes two weeks to heal with calamine lotion, fourteen 
days without it.  May keep you from scratching the urticarial lesions and 
spreading the urushiol containing oil.

Doc Lisenby
SoCar.