Hi Steemit friends,
on a tour with my younger son Leon at the shore of the river Mulde in our hometown we discovered the Himalayan Balsam.
Himalayan Balsam Blossom with Bee inside, photo by author, Sony A6000 with SEL55210
These plants are always great fun for kids because of the exploding 💣 capsule fruits 💥 . If you touch them they hurl their seed, looking like cannon shot pellets with high speed around. In the following spectacular video you can see at 00:30 min what happens from even miniscule vibrations in slowmotion.
Unbelievable Footage of Exploding Plants - video by am nhac
The ripe fruit capsule grow up to 50mm in length. Our smaller kids are always very careful when they try to touch them.. explosive creepy things 😁. To be honest they look more like bombs 💣 than harmless seed capsules!
Himalayan Balsam ripe fruit capsules, photo by author, Sony A6000 with SEL55210
Bees and bumblebees love them for their many open flowers with pollen and nectar.
Himalayan Balsam open flowers, photo by author, Sony A6000 with
SEL55210
The flower is lowering by the weight of the bumblebee
Himalayan Balsam bee approaching, photo by author, Sony A6000 with SEL55210
The sugar level of the flowers is 48% which means medium sweet, but they produce about 40 times more sugar than native plants! Additionaly they offer also a high-grade sugary pollen and so they are great competition to other plants because bumblebees for example have a good memory of good food sources.
Himalayan Balsam bee approaching, photo by author, Sony A6000 with SEL55210
Especially in Europe the plant threatens native plants and will be fought against. The aggressive growth combined with high attractiveness for pollinators is unique.
Himalayan Balsam white blossom, photo by author, Sony A6000 with SEL55210
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see also my other posts
BUMBLEBEE FOOD SEARCH PHOTOGRAPHY
LIGHTNIGHT CITY PHOTOGRAPHY II
Exciting times ahead steemit friends!
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unmarked pictures/animation from giphy.com, pixabay.com