Hi, can anyone help me identifying this plant, as we have a stables and they are growing everywhere. Also because we don't know what they are, we don't know if they are poisonous to the horses. As you can see from the pictures they are very tall and dense. The stables is built on an old tip site so the soil is high in all sorts like magnesium etc. Also we have a sand/foam arena and they grow in there as well.
Impatiens sp. Either Himalayan, or Touch-me-not. Someone with a better memory than me will tell you, but that gives you a start. I don't know about toxicity, but horses are much more likely to eat these things when cut and dry, so be careful how you get rid of it.http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicweeds/weed_information/weed.php?id=96 found this, control by grazing, so not toxic, but horses are odd, so ask your vet.
Agree with nic, it is Impatiens glandulifera. Common name Himalayan balsam. See...... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayan_Balsam
This is just a quick Heads Up from "Selected Noxious Weeds of Washington State", USA Heavens this little bugger gets around. "It is Impatiens glandulifera. *flower color ranges from white to pink to purple; the shape resembles that of an old-fashioned English policemans helmet *annual, reaching 10 feet tall; spreads by seed *introduced as a ornamental, this species escaped and establishes in lowland riparian areas of moist forests; considered one ot the top 20 alien species in England because of abundance and distribution. Have you touched a ripe seed pod and watched the explosion? Impressive! Washington State frowns on planting this large pretty.
Never heard of that, and google doesn't give any hits for it. I'd suspect it derives from a misreading of the species citation; Impatiens glandulifera was described by John Forbes Royle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forbes_Royle so the full citation is Impatiens glandulifera Royle.
