Japanese Knotweed Clogs Town’s Roadsides

By Kendra Bobowick

Growing in slender stalks with spiked leaves unfurling and fanning out every few inches, Japanese knotweed has grown in thick swaths along Newtown’s roadsides and streams.

Past weeks have seen the plant jut from the ground, reach upward and spread more rapidly than surrounding vegetation. Choking river banks and curbside habitats, the invasive plant is prevalent in Newtown.

Conservation Official Ann Astarita asked, “Have you seen it by Jordan Hill?” The side street off of Route 34 more than a mile past Great Ring Road and headed toward Monroe forms an intersection that is overwrought with the spiked shoots.

 “Keep an eye out for it,” she warns. Cut it and cover it to block out sunlight. She noted that the plant “winters over well,” so “be careful. It closes out everything else.” Drivers traveling down Route 34 will pass Chestnut Hill on the right, then Bradley Lane, and Jordan Hill. Across from that intersection is a tall cluster of knotweed growing several feet tall.

At the top of Church Hill Road across from Wendover Road is another prominent show of knotweed leading into a wooded area. Many side streets where streams trickle nearby are also home to bursts of the invasive.

In other countries officials are making attempts to eradicate the weed naturally, which interests Ms Astarita. “The US is watching. Is this something we want to do? I guess in the UK it’s even more of a problem.”

According to the Plant Conservation Alliance’s website, the knotweed spreads quickly to form a dense thicket that excludes vegetation and “greatly alters” the natural ecosystem. It is able to survive floods and colonize scoured shores and islands.

Once established it is “extremely persistent.”

Also known as crimson beauty, Mexican bamboo, Japanese fleece flower, or Reynoutria, the plant was probably first introduces to the United States as an ornamental plant also used for erosion control.