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Just what IS a weed?

© Barbara Hall

"A plant anywhere you don't want it." And therefore the rose in the tomato patch becomes a WEED. I never much liked that one. The one I prefer is "any plant whose virtues you don't recognize YET." Well, now that's fine, but it rather messes up all those glorious WEEDS whose virtues we DO know! So let's try something else. In one of my truly favorite books on weeds, JUST WEEDS, history, myths and uses, by Pamela Jones, she refers to her favorite weeds as "some of nature's most extraordinary survivors and heroes." Yes, yes, that's MUCH better. Have you noticed that not everyone feels as I do?

Here in a good old (gasp) paper dictionary it says:

weed n. 1. Any common, unsightly, or troublesome plant that grows in abundance, especially to injurious excess on cultivated ground. (sounds like Pachysandra to me!) 2. informal Tobacco: usually with the; also, a cigarette or cigar. 3. Any worthless animal or thing; especially, a horse that is unfit for racing or breeding. (I knew a really weedy horse named Pachysandra once!) 4. The stem and leaves of any useful plant as distinguished from its flower and fruit: dill weed. 5. Thick, luxuriant growth, as of underbrush or shrubs.

Now that last one sure could get you in some trouble if the weed police were enforcing the weed laws!

The word WEED often comes with the most interesting adjectives, like rampant, or noxious, or invasive. Hmmm, don't sound too cuddly, do they? The antonym for "weed" is "cultivated plant." (you mean you've never met a rampant cultivated ground cover?)

As an herbalist and a teacher it has been SUCH a pleasure to have spent quite a few years introducing folks to the "useful plants" that they once sneered at as weeds. I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing the delighted phrase, "You mean you can EAT that??" as I hand them some Purslane, or Chickweed, or a Violet flower. Another wonderful ripple often happens as I introduce someone to a weed they never much paid attention to before: "Sheryl, this is a Mullein. Mullein, this is Sheryl." Suddenly Sheryl begins noticing Mulleins all OVER the place. THAT'S when I know I've made a difference.

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