Himalayan Balsam is native to India and the Himalayas, and was introduced as a garden ornamental in the 19th Century. Since then, it has spread throughout Central Scotland and the UK. Himalayan Balsam is an attractive and elegant plant with distinctive purple-pink flowers, producing hundreds of seeds which it scatters explosively. This plant becomes a pest when it colonises ground, excluding native and other plants. In some parts of Scotland, Himalayan Balsam has become a real nuisance for householders, businesses and local authorities.