On a walk this morning, I came on a plant I have never seen before. They were between 6 and 10 feet tall. At first glance they looked like bamboo. Thick knobby stems. But two things stood out that I have never seen in graminacaea. First, the stems were topped by moderately large pink flowers. Second, these stems had a hexagonal cross-section. All mints have square cross-sections, but this is the first time I ever noticed hexagonal ones. Any idea what these might be? Incidentally, the stems were stiff, but not woody like bamboo.
Where are you? Hawaii? Saskatchewan? Namibia? Antarctica?
Here’s a Eupatorium.
I am in Montreal. After googling for bamboo-like plants my wife finally identified as something called Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica), aka Mexican bamboo. It is considered invasive, but it was sure handsome. It has clearly been selected for handsome flowers. It is not related to bamboo. It is distantly related to purple loosestrife.
Oh, lord - if it is Knotweed, run away! Very, VERY invasive, and nearly impossible to kill. I was on a city invasive species control team for years. We tried everything - last I saw it was still cropping up on the edges of the nature center. You’d think being in a nothern climate, (Minnesota US), we’d be better off, but that stuff is HARDY!