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Uses

Japanese knotweed flowers are valued by some beekeepers as an important source of nectar for honeybees, at a time of year when little else is flowering. Japanese knotweed yields a monofloral honey, usually called bamboo honey by northeastern U.S. beekeepers, like a mild-flavored version of buckwheat honey (a related plant also in the Polygonaceae).

The young stems are edible as a spring vegetable, with a flavor similar to mild rhubarb. In some locations, semi-cultivating Japanese knotweed for food has been used as a means of controlling knotweed populations that invade sensitive wetland areas and drive out the native vegetation.^[6]

Both Japanese knotweed and giant knotweed are important concentrated sources of resveratrol, replacing grape byproducts.^[7] Many large supplement sources of resveratrol now use Japanese knotweed and use its scientific name in the supplement labels.^[8] The plant is useful because of its year round growth and robustness in different climates.^[9]

Japanese knotweed is a concentrated source of emodin, used as a nutritional supplement to regulate bowel motility. The roots of Polygonum cuspidatum are used in traditional Chinese and Japanese herbal medicines as a natural laxative. The active principle responsible for the laxative effect is emodin, present in its natural form as a complex of its analogs. Emodin has a mild laxative effect in doses of 20 to 50 mg per day.^[10]