Fallopia japonica typical to see much smaller plants in places where they sprout through cracks in the pavement or are repeatedly cut down. The leaves are broad oval with a truncated base, long and broad, with an entire margin. The flowers are small, cream or white, produced in erect racemes long in late summer and early autumn. Closely related species include giant knotweed ("Fallopia sachalinensis", syn. "Polygonum sachalinense") and Russian vine ("Fallopia baldschuanica", "Polygonum baldschuanicum"). Other English names for Japanese knotweed include fleeceflower, Himalayan fleece vine, monkeyweed, monkey fungus, Hancock's curse, elephant ears, pea shooters, donkey rhubarb (although it is not a
U.S. National Fungus Collections K. Charles, identified numerous commercially threatening fungi, including the bubble disease of mushrooms (1909), the potato wart disease ("Synchytrium endobioticum"), and chestnut blight. These and other invasive diseases led to the passage of the Plant Quarantine Act of 1912. These scientists were part of a wave of government-funded research into agriculture and disease. Vera Charles also worked on fungal pathogens of insects. The National Fungus Collection also hired a number of other scientists all of whom did significant work on economically important crops. These included Anna E. Jenkins, hired in 1912, who became the "foremost authority" on spot-anthracnose fungi. Edith