Wild Flowers Of Strathclyde Park
  
 

Himalayan Balsam
Impatiens glandulifera
of the Balsam family
an annual
1 - 3 m high
blooms July - August
likes damp places like riverbanks, ditches, cultivated and waste land
easily found along the banks of the Clyde

   
Because of its shape this flower is also known as Policeman's Helmet. It is not a native of Britain having been brought here during the nineteenth century as a greenhouse plant. It escaped and spread uncontrollably due to its seed dispersal method where exploding seed pods blast showers of seed huge distances.