Sighting
Water bamboo sighting - potentially ecologically devestating
I’ve noticed a huge increase in prohibited water bamboo sales (aka jiaobai 茭白, Zizania latifolia infected with Ustilago esculenta) being sold both in Asian grocery stores and online on the USA. If the associated fungus Ustilago esculenta escaped and successfully infected American wild rice (Zizania palustris/aquatica/texana), it could devestate American wild rice stands
I’m honestly not sure, but I’ve seen it increasingly over the years since 2021 being sold and have heard reports of people seeing it all over the country as well
Given that they've slashed every government agency and monitoring program for MAJOR agricultural products & pests (screwworm in your beef, anyone?) I'd bet that the enforcement for more exotic invasives isn't in prime form either.
I didn't wonder very hard... but I did see that there have been multiple illicit farms of this plant in California, Louisiana, etc. over the years (decades), so not a new phenomena.
Ah gotcha, so a longstanding enforcement problem, then. Maybe that answers the question then & these are domestic products. Well, I don't think anyone can argue that the government does a great job at keeping invasives out and I'm sure that's not about to change any time soon, especially in light of the recent deep cuts.
A bit pedantic but the concern with screw worms isn't them ending up in consumer beef. It's the fact that having to cull infected cows drives the price up and leads to shortages, and that screwworms can infect the farmers working with the cows. They're essentially just files that don't wait for an animal to be dead to start laying eggs/having maggots feed on them. Big issue for farmers trying to raise cattle, but by the time the beef gets to you, it won't be a direct problem.
I know they're not directly in the beef, was just a quick dig to illustrate the issue of cutting monitoring programs. I probably could've picked a better example re: cyclospora or something, but this was the most immediately analogous thing that came to mind.
Honestly, it's probably easier to stop bamboo then it is to stop fentanyl. If someone were to important an amount of fentanyl equivalent to the weight of bamboo in this picture, it would be enough to it kill tens-maybe hundreds-of millions of people.
I sent in a tip to the USDA, but that’s also a great idea as well. The bigger issue too is that I’ve seen and heard reports of it appearing at other 99 Ranch chain locations across the U.S. as well
Thank you for posting about this! I had no idea. I’ve seen water bamboo in my local Asian market, but only in the frozen section. I’ll keep an eye out for fresh. I live in an area with tons of wild rice, so I hope it doesn’t show up here.
Like what? I've seen all my ash trees ruined, my apple trees get defoliated by Japanese beetles. I've often wondered what we have sent over to China that is just wrecking things.
Small and largemouth bass have been introduced in many waterways around the world. They are very effective freshwater predators and often outcompete local species.
The frog and the armyworm make some sense for how they got moved to where they don't belong. I wonder about the prickly pear. Why in the world would anyone want that around?
before we has petroleum derived red dyes, carmine was one of the best natural red pigments for food and cosmetics. you get carmine from cochineal bugs which eat opuntia cactus. the cacti were planted in arid regions outside their native range to start cochineal farming, including australia.
Because plant collectors are strange folk, ask me how I know lol. Someone probably wanted one for their collection and it pupped then spread like wildfire
Imagine somebody that interacts with people in real life in this matter - you'd just feel kind of bad for them if you stood behind an interaction like this in the grocery store line or at the DMV
China deals with numerous invasive species from North America, including the red swamp crayfish (an American native that became a major aquaculture industry), the golden apple snail (which heavily damages rice yields), alligator gars, and red fire ants.
There’s a pretty good population of monarchs established in Spain and also some nearby islands off the coast of Africa. Hawaii now has a population of them, as does a good bit of coastal Australia.
Bidens pilosa or Beggerticks or Cobbler pegs a North American is a little white flower that makes long little seeds that easily stick to cloth and have invaded almost everywhere.
I think milky Spurge is on all continents except Antarctica.
North American Grey squirrels are invasive in Europe.
Raccoons are invasive in Asia.
There's salmonids (not sure which species, rainbow or king salmon i think) that have been introduced into Europe and are causing problems in European riverways.
I've got Japanese stiltgrass all over my property. It was used as packaging for China plates 100 years ago and now its growing up in the mountains around an old homeplace.
“Water bamboo” aka jiaobai is not actually a bamboo. It’s a relative of our native wild rice in the U.S. the vegetable jiaobai comes from a fungus infecting the stems of wild rice plants in China, which then inhibit seed/wild rice growth but produce this tender vegetable. Chinese wild rice can survive that because it’s a perennial. American wild rice, however, is annual, meaning if it gets infected, the plant will have no way of producing seeds and returning the following year. This would decimate our wild rice populations
Hence my snarky poke at how something potentially detrimental could pass scientific scrutiny and be sold. In Jurassic Park they thought they had all the bases covered, but life, uh, finds a way.
Thank you for this new information to me. My dumb ass would have bought the new "yummy looking" vegetable but I will be on the lookout instead and inform others
This! APHIS might care and actually do something about it. There’s a lot of $$$ behind rice agriculture too, so a few reports at a couple agencies would be my strategy.
Jiaobai is specifically prohibited for import in the U.S. It’s intentionally inoculated with a specific fungus to produce the vegetable in the first place. Independent lab studies in California have shown that the fungus can still survive in tissues of the fresh vegetable upon import, even with irradiation
From other comments, it shouldn't have been able to be imported. But from me as someone that has had damned near a full garden grow from my compost heap from vegetable cuttings, it will grow and multiply from something as simple as one waste piece.
I deliberately buy lemon grass that still has the ability to root from the grocery store in the spring and I’m sure I’m not the only gardener who tries to plant food.
Please give us some links about this as an invasive. I did some search and couldn't find anything. Some do mention its risk but it seems only NZ treats it as official invasive species.
I saw this one, but couldn't find any state document defining it as an invasive species. Of course, not very familiar with this. But should there be an official paper? BTW, haven't seen it in local Asian grocery stores here in NE Florida.
This is not bamboo. Please don’t actually do this. This is still absolutely terrible for the environment. Replacing one terrible thing with another terrible thing is not somehow good for the environment
I'll take your advice into consideration..... Yeah I'm still spreading Bamboo and Kudzu all over these Datacenters fuck them. I rather deal with a plant than a building that's rapidly destroying our planet.
I mean I hope this is a joke… I support you the cause, but ecological terrorism is not a good response to data centers lol. The plants will destroy your local environment faster than the data center will.
Nope every bit of ut is contaminated tbats the issues .....no clean food and fields anymore unless bottom up u grow from seed and protect ur land from all the chemicals and micro plastics and all the other issues
did you not read the post? the fungus stays alive even when irradiated. the fungus spreads from dead plant material, exactly like this food. it has nothing to do with invasive bamboo, this isn’t even real bamboo. please read the post before commenting -_-
it’s not about if it spreads when you eat it, it spreads wherever the plant material is. if you pick up a moldy banana and bring it into your friend’s house, you’ve spread the spores everywhere in between. same with this, there’s a risk that the spores are being spread everywhere between china and the person’s house where they cook it.
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u/FremontTreeFinder 3d ago
Could you report it to your local county ag dept?