Explosion of life by Jousto on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Somewhat abstract, you think? Could've made it more cryptic had I reframed it more obscurely. That said, welcome to Jousto's biology lesson #7. What we have here is an exploded seedcase of a Himalayan balsam, or Impatiens glandulifera (for you Finns out there, it's jättipalsami in our sweet language).

As its name implies, it's of Asian origin, more specifically, from the Himalayas. A rather tall plant, up to two meters, sometimes even taller, it's a popular garden flower. However, it's a nasty alien species and invades other species' nichés, leading into (local) extinctions of these "conquered" species in extreme cases.

The seedcases have an interesting structure that makes them explode upon touch once they've reached a certain size and level of maturity. The seeds can fly several meters due to the kinetic energy produced by the explosion, which makes their dispersal quite effective in the plants' proximity. The case remains can be very complex-looking as you can see.

As the plant is a non-native invasive species outside middle Asia, do get rid of all Himalayan balsams you spot in order to protect your endemic flora. For the diversity of nature.