Help please... (1 Viewer)

Could someone identify this plant please...
I have no idea what it is..I am only just really starting to take notice of plants


Many thanks...

That's Himalayan Balsam, as the name suggests not a native species. It is now widespread and can be very invasive, forming dense stands that exclude all other flowering plants. The seed pods burst open explosively when touched - by people, rain, etc. -, persist for a long time in the soil and are readily dispersed by moving water. Having said all that it's a nice looking plant and I believe bumble bees like it!

Regards
Neil Harvey

Woundsinger said:

Could someone identify this plant please...
I have no idea what it is..I am only just really starting to take notice of plants


Many thanks...

Click to expand...

arrrgggghhhh!!!! it is the plant that nobody speaks.... kill it... kill it.... kill it....


horrible, nasty, disgusting.


Hello

The Bird

arrrgggghhhh!!!! it is the plant that nobody speaks.... kill it... kill it.... kill it....

Click to expand...

So it's not nice then....lol

Would you believe its the first time I have ever noticed it there..
Its seems to have erupted around that pool in particular...
Is it safe to say that its going to spread along all of the stream etc ..
I may be becoming a volunteer ranger at this particular LNR so maybe I will have a word about getting rid...
Cheers for the help...

P.S
As I mentioned...I am nuturing an interest in wild and native plants..(It all started with me hunting for 'lords and ladies' on my local patch after being told it was 'in bloom' by a friend....).
So I maybe needing help again if I find something I cannot ID... :h?:
Thanks..

Woundsinger said:

Could someone identify this plant please...
I have no idea what it is..I am only just really starting to take notice of plants


Many thanks...

Click to expand...

Impatiens Glandulifera, Indian Balsam.

Woundsinger said:

Could someone identify this plant please...
I have no idea what it is..I am only just really starting to take notice of plants


Many thanks...

Click to expand...

Looks more like Impatiens tinctoria to me. Is this in the wild or in a garden/park etc.

If it is I. tinctoria, then it's not invasive (ie doen't seed around like it's annual and obviously loathed relative), perennial, just about hardy and a magnificent addition to any garden scheme if you want that jungle look!

Its in a Country park...
As far as I know minimal interruption is the order of the day with regards to landscaping..So I would be 99.9% sure that this was a 'wild' rather then 'planted'..

As I said in my earlier post...
I have never seen these in that area before..(infact I haven't seen them in the park before..) .I visit once every 4-6 weeks at least..
There seems to be a round 6 of them all in a pretty tight area surrounding this pool...(which incidently is connected to a small stream which feeds into a reed edged lake further down stream...)..My concern is that if they are really that aggresive in spreading we may lose some of the reeds etc down stream to it...And with that will go some of the few Reed Warblers we have annually there..

I will try and get back there sometime this week and get a better look/photos of them..

Pretty flower - highly invasive - methods of control vary, the NRA have produced some recent leaflets on their targeted key species...

Himalayan Balsam
Japanese Knotweed
Giant Hogweed

Loz.

myotis said:

Looks more like Impatiens tinctoria to me. Is this in the wild or in a garden/park etc.

If it is I. tinctoria, then it's not invasive (ie doen't seed around like it's annual and obviously loathed relative), perennial, just about hardy and a magnificent addition to any garden scheme if you want that jungle look!

Click to expand...

As others have said, it is Himalayan (or 'Indian') Balsam, Impatiens glandulifera. Although we don't have a close-up photograph, the upper petals are visible and they are much too large for I. tinctoria. Sorry.

It is invasive, but I am not sure that it is a significant threat to our native species. It is very shade tolerant and can grow in wet, open ground in dark woodland - typically in places that are not used much by other species anyway. It can be dominant on riverbanks, especially after disturbance or where there is some organic pollution, but again my impression is that it is finding a niche that is otherwise not being greatly exploited. Yes, it must be displacing other plants, but I am not sure what.
Potentially it is a theat to nationally scarce species such as Scrophularia umbrosa (Green Figwort), but most of our local colony of the latter vanished not through competition from the Balsam, but from the local council putting up a notice, "Environmental Improvement", and promptly destroying it.

My main objection to Himalayan Balsam is that the scent of large colonies can be pretty overpowering - rather like massed, over-ripe strawberries.

As Neil says, bumble bees like it! (Proof attached, though both the flower and the bee seem to have had rough times!)

Alan

Maybe my photo of Himalayan Balsam with the bee doesn't do the plant justice.
So another one of a younger flower, the deep pink variant.
Photographed by the river in Paisley.

Alan

Agreed Alan - quite what it displaces is something to ruminate over altho large areas must shade a bit bit it's relatively late-flowering - the flower bears more than a passing resemblance to Ladys Slipper in shape and Calypso Orchid in colour.....but it's on an exotic weed ! - I have only just found a couple of small colonies of Giant Hogweed locally nearly up to 5 metres - i will be lifting some for next year and growing on in a couple of dustbins - as for the Knotweed very useful late-Summer source of nectar they get covered with Hoverflies etc ( my obversations anyway )...Loz.