This species is most frequent on the banks of waterways, where it often forms continuous stands, but is also established in damp woodland, flushes and mires. The tallest annual in Britain, its rapid growth can shade out even Urtica dioica. Lowland.
I. glandulifera was introduced as an ornamental garden plant in 1839 and was first recorded in the wild in 1855 (Middlesex). It became naturalised independently in many different places, but did not attain its most rapid rate of increase until almost a century later. There has been a significant increase in its frequency since the 1962 Atlas.
Native of the Himalayas; widely naturalised in temperate Europe.
PLANTATT - Attributes of British and Irish plants. (.zip 1455KB) This dataset was compiled and published in 2004, and last updated in November 2008. Download includes an Excel spreadsheet of the attributes, and a PDF explaining the background and nomenclature. Note that the PDF version is the booklet as published, whereas the Excel spreadsheet incorporates subsequent corrections. A hardcopy can be purchased from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
Atlas text references
1993. Biological Flora of the British Isles. No. 177. Impatiens glandulifera Royle. Journal of Ecology. 81:367-382.
1990. Flora dels Països Catalans, II. Crucíferes-Amarantàcies.
1988. Comparative Plant Ecology.