Japanese Knotweed facts

While investigating facts about Japanese Knotweed Uk and Japanese Knotweed Removal, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Japanese knotweed is edible plant. Cooked young stems taste like sour rhubarb.

how to get rid of japanese knotweed?

Japanese knotweed can grow 4 inches per day during the summer. It is able to penetrate through the walls, cement and tarmac and destroy sewage system, parts of the house, pavements and other man-made structures in the rural and urban areas.

What japanese knotweed looks like?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what does japanese knotweed look like. Here are 17 of the best facts about Japanese Knotweed Identification and Japanese Knotweed Uk Law I managed to collect.

what's japanese knotweed?

1. Japanese knotweed propagates via seed and division of the rhizome.

2. Japanese knotweed produces creamy, greenish or white, small flowers arranged in raceme (multi-branched, spreading type of inflorescence).

3. Japanese knotweed blooms during the summer. It belongs to the group of dioecious plants (male and female flowers develop on separate plants). Insects are responsible for the pollination of the Japanese knotweed.

4. Japanese knotweed can survive on any type of soil, in all kinds of habitats. Entire plant can develop from the smallest piece of rhizome that can survive exposure to fire.

5. Japanese knotweed develops reddish-brown stem that can reach 10 to 13 feet in height. Stem is divided in nodes and it resembles bamboo.

6. Fruit of Japanese knotweed is dry three-winged achene filled with small triangular, dark brown seed.

7. Japanese knotweed is classified as weed in almost all countries outside its native range due to lack of natural enemies which prevent uncontrolled spreading of this plant.

8. Japanese knotweed has thick, knotty rhizome. Brown skin on the surface protects orange, yellow or brown-colored flesh inside. Rhizome can spread 23 feet horizontally and 10 feet in depth.

9. Japanese Knotweed is listed by the World Conservation Union as one of the world's worst invasive species. It can damage buildings, roads and architectural sites, and it's considered an epidemic in the UK, where it has spread nationwide. It is illegal to have it on your property in Austrailia.

10. Japanese knotweed is popular and often used remedy (known as Itadori) in treatment of pain in Japan.

Why is japanese knotweed bad?

You can easily fact check why is japanese knotweed so bad by examining the linked well-known sources.

Japanese knotweed develops broad, oval, green leaves with entire margins. Leaves have short petioles and they are alternately arranged on the stem.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature includes the common housecat, Felis catus, in its list of worst invasive species, alongside malaria mosquitoes, Dutch elm disease, and kudzu. (It is #38, after Japanese knotweed.) - source

Flowers of Japanese knotweed are used as a source of nectar in the manufacture of honey in the USA.

Japanese knotweed is especially wide spread in Great Britain. Englishmen spend millions of pounds each year on eradication of Japanese knotweed. During the preparations for the Olympic Games 2012 in London, Japanese knotweed occupied two main arenas. Organizers have spent 4 years in battle with Japanese knotweed before they finally managed to remove it.

Japanese knotweed is perennial plant (life span: over two years).