You must have seen Rosebay Willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium) wherever you walk as it is both striking and common, forming extensive stands wherever it grows. It is also very tall and with its bright purple-pink flowers can be seen from a distance.
The flowers are attractive close up and if it wasn't so common and invasive, it would be sold as a garden flower. (In fact, the white flowered version is sold as a garden flower.)
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| Rosebay Willowherb flowers |
It forms a spike with new buds forming at the top, open flowers below and then the seed pods lower down.
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| Rosebay Willowherb buds, flowers and seed pods |
Every flower forms a seed pod and each seed pod splits to release lots of seeds with a fluffy parachute attached.
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| Seed pod splitting |
Each bit of fluff is carrying a seed:
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| Rosebay Willowherb seeds |
When you consider how many seeds must be produced by just one flowering spike, it is no wonder that it manages to spread itself far and wide (Someone, not me, has suggested 80,000 seeds per flowerhead). It is quick to colonise bare and waste ground such as bonfire sites and bombsites. The seeds are carried along railways by the air currents of passing trains. Once it has taken root, it will persist for years as it is a perennial.
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