Japanese Plant Metaphors

[Mulboyne]

UK Independent: Japanese Knotweed invader
It is one of the monumental lonely hearts stories of our time. Each autumn, the world's largest female organism exposes her sexy bits and lets them waft in the breeze in the desperate hope that a mate will arrive on the scene. So far she has had little success.
..."When an organism becomes established outside its natural environment it is as if it is on holiday," Dr Bailey says. "It has escaped from its natural pests and predators.

[Taro Toporific]

UK Independent: Japanese Knotweed invader
.

I think I'm in love with one enormous clone, age 160.

We speculated that given its vigour and its ability to propagate - without the need for fertilisation - that it was all one enormous clone." The morphology of the modern plant precisely matched that of contemporary illustrations of the specimens brought over in the 1840s, adding further weight to the idea that it might be a single clone.

[Mulboyne]

I just saw an item in the UK press about how Japanese knotweed is adding to the clean-up bill for London's Olympic project. Below is an old, old article but it covers the same ground:

BBC: What's the problem with Japanese knotweed?

...With bamboo-like stems and clusters of creamy flowers, Japanese knotweed sounds exotic. But it holds the title of the UK's most invasive plant and has become the subject of horror stories. Its removal from the 2012 Olympic site in east London could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Flourishing in any soil - however poor - Japanese knotweed spreads relentlessly, overwhelming other plants and damaging ecosystems. With the ability to grow through walls, tarmac and concrete it can wreck roads and buildings. Experts say a new plant can grow from a piece of root the size of a garden pea. The Victorians are to blame for introducing it into the UK. They thought it was beautiful and brought it over from Japan, but they soon got fed up when it started overtaking their gardens. They dug it up and threw it out, spreading it to the wild...

[kurohinge1]

Britain now plans to import Japanese nymphs to suck these "female organisms" into submission . . .

[SIZE="4"]Japanese 'vampire' bugs to curb UK weed[/SIZE]

Environment Correspondent
TINY sap-sucking bugs from Japan might be let out into the wild in this country to wage war on a devastating weed that is growing out of control.

Japanese knotweed is wreaking havoc across Scotland and the rest of the UK.

It damages buildings, smothers train tracks and clogs up riverbanks and habitats, costing millions of pounds each year to control. In its native country, knotweed is kept in check by insects that feed on it, but none of these exist in the UK.

Now, that could be about to change with the possibility of a tiny predator being released into the wild within a year.

Scientists have been researching the 0.5mm-long nymphs of the psyllid, which they brought back from Japan.

They act like vampires, sucking the sap from the knotweed and hampering its ability to spread.

Dr Dick Shaw, the principal investigator at environmental research body CABI Europe, who led the research, said the weed had the "biodiversity value of concrete". He added: "The trouble is, this weed has lost its natural enemies."

The challenge was to find an insect that could keep Japanese knotweed under control, but that did not itself cause havoc to Britain's native species.

Following strict quarantine measures to make sure that none of the bugs escaped, Dr Shaw and his team have spent the past four years studying the insects to find out how they behave around species native to the UK.

He thinks that the risk of the psyllids themselves disrupting Britain's ecosystem is low because the bugs have evolved over centuries to feed specifically on Japanese knotweed.

"It has taken millennia to become a specialist on knotweed, so the chances of it changing to something else is very unlikely," Dr Shaw said.

He said that the nymphs would not kill the knotweed, but just control its spread. "If it killed all the knotweed, it would die out itself," he explained. "So you usually end up with an equilibrium."

If the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) decides to release the bug, it would be the first time a foreign insect has been introduced to the UK to tackle an invasive weed.

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[Greji]

[quote="kurohinge1"]Britain now plans to import Japanese nymphs to suck these "female organisms" into submission . . .

[SIZE="4"]Japanese 'vampire' bugs to curb UK weed[/SIZE]

]

Met a sap sucker in Roppongi last night.....