Himalayan Balsam

Himalayan Balsam a weed from the Himalayas is also known as Policeman's Helmet or Indian Touch-Me-Not.

It is often found by rivers and seems to be spreading year by year.

I always understood that the seed had been in bales of raw cotton imported from India and had grown up in the waterways surrounding the cotton mills of Lancashire BUT having Googled the plant I now find it was introduced to Kew Gardens in 1839 and then managed to escape into the wild.

The whole plant can produce a yellow dye and the sap can be used to soothe the rash caused by Poison Ivy.

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