Call it knotweed, or Japanese bamboo, or Reynoutria japonica , it’s all the same plant.

Easy to identify, it is a big perennial herb that grows as a shrub up to eight feet tall.

It dies back to the ground in the autumn, leaving a tangle of hollow, jointed, dry stems up to an inch in diameter.

The large, heart-shaped to spade-shaped leaves are distinctive. It flowers in the autumn with clusters of small white flowers, which are followed by dry, scale-like fruits.

The seeds are numerous, usually infertile, but it only takes one to start a new colony. The plant is a familiar sight along roadsides, in neglected parks, other “beat up” settings.

Despite the name, it has no relationship with bamboo, which is a giant grass.

Outside of its native habitat in China and Japan, knotweed is cons

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