Himalayan Balsam
Himalayan Balsam - Impatiens glandulifera
This is a tall, stout hairless plant that can sometimes reach 2 metres in height. Flowers usually pink or purple sometimes white and usually with spots or blotches. In racemes of 5 or more and 'helmet' shaped. Capsule club shaped.
Moist ground. The banks of rivers and streams. Lake margins.
July to October.
Annual. A very invasive species, it can become very troublesome.
Common in many parts of Britain and can be invasive.
Quite common, and increasing in suitable locations in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 46 of the 617 tetrads.
Roger Collier
Bailey Sim Wood
20 September 2013
Paul Ruddoch
Petfoods River
27 July 2014
HAPeacock
River Soar - St Marys Mill
12 July 2012
HAPeacock
River Soar - St Marys Mill
19 August 2012
David Nicholls
Abbey Park
19 September 2010
Graham Calow
Fosse Meadows, Sharnford
21 May 2014
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 Fosse Meadows (Taken 17.9.2008),..JPG)
 Fosse Meadows (Taken 17.9.2008)..JPG)
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Phytoliriomyza melampyga
The larvae of the Agromyzid fly Phytoliriomyza melampyga mine the leaves of Impatiens species (Balsams) such as Himalayan Balsam. The early narrow, linear mine later becomes a large irregular whitish blotch with conspicuous frass.