Invasive flower, policeman’s helmet, beautiful, but blacklisted
Thursday, May 7, 2015 - 09:00
in Biology & Nature
If you have this beautiful flower in your garden, you should uproot it before the seed pods explode, releasing thousands of seeds. It spreads like the plague. The seeds of Impatiens glandulifera, commonly known as Policeman’s Helmet, grow very quickly, as much as 4 centimeters per day. They can grow to a height of 1.5 to 3 meters, and have attractive purple, pink or white flowers. Many people find the flowers pretty, until this invasive plant behaves the way it is defined. The flowers mature into seed pods that spontaneously explode, spreading thousands of seeds in a 6-7 meter radius. This creates a colony of rapidly growing plants that often outcompete other species.