Even though it looks like it, Japanese knotweed is not bamboo

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 16, 2021

“Many people call Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) Mexican bamboo or just bamboo,” said Gary Fish, state horticulturist at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Wildlife (DACF). “It is not a grass like true bamboo, but it does have jointed stems like true bamboo. Japanese knotweed is one of the most invasive plants in the world,” Fish said. “It is so easily spread by little fragments in fill soil or on equipment. It causes major problems for many of our streams and rivers because it colonizes the banks and channels the water which speeds up the water causing erosion and flooding.”