Cycling back from the lock-up in Bonnington, I took a wrong turning. It was very nice to cycle along past the Warriston allotments, then a right turn and along Goldenacre Path towards Five Ways Junction and back on track.
It looks like Goldenacre Path is an old railway path: there’s steep banking to both sides and the path is dead straight. I started to have a strange feeling. The vegetation on the left-hand bank was a bright green. Slowing, I started to see that it was a single, low-lying plant that was covering much of the exposed banking. A more mixed vegetation was in evidence on shaded areas of the bank, with nettles, bluebells, cleavers and an array of other plants slugging it out. But on exposed areas, the uniformity of the ground cover worried me.
Slowing down, I recognised the triangular arrangement of the leaves: Himalyan Balsam.
The stem is very fleshy.
These are young plants which have germinated synchronosly. Wait until the summer and they could be 3 metres high.
Other links
1999 City of Edinburgh Council document on wildlife corridors
Looks like the area falls into both the Inverleith and Forth Neighbourhood Partnerships [CEC Neighbourhood Partnership site
18 Saughton Mains, no more! 