Mile-a-minute

I had an all-too-close encounter the other day on a stream bank with "mile-a-minute weed" (Persicaria perfoliata). This invasive, noxious vined has barbs that enable it to climb and overwhelm trees, shrubs and basically everything in the vicinity. Said barbs ripped up the back of my right hand (another nickname for the vine is "tear-thumb," how true) and for a few days after the incident the clawed-looking area felt rough and just weird, like after you touch a stinging nettle.
The vine, which can grow up to six inches a day, is a native of the Far East but got a foothold here in American somewhere around 1940 when a curious nursery owner in Stewartstown, York County, let it grow. "It is speculated that the seed was spread with Rhododendron stock," Wikipedia tells us.
Speaking of noxious vines, my season-long efforts to inhibit the growth of wild grapevines have had, uh, limited success. I thought that perhaps promptly amputating the tendrils at their home nodule with my Fiskars would discourage them. Not so; perversely, it seems to spur them on to further offensive efforts ("we'll show her!"). Instead of attacking them individually, I've been reduced to just hacking them back en masse at the perimeter of the garden.