Weeds: The Story of Outlaw Plants

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Grassy weeds are a common type of weed, also known as monocots. This means that a grass seed will sprout as one leaf. They have round and hollow stems, with nodes, while the leaves are long, with parallel veins. The plant has many culinary uses, with the leaves, roots, and blanched buds used as a food additive and substitute for coffee. 69. Yellow Woodsorrel Notes: This perennial within the carrot family grows along hedges and on cultivated land. Its umbels of white flowers make the plant distinctive.

Notes: Purple Woodsorrel is a popular ornamental plant grown for its bright purple blooms. It grows alongside roads and paths and in gardens. The plant is poisonous when eaten in large quantities but edible in small amounts. It has the distinctive flavour of apple peel and lemon. 26. Canadian Fleabane Blaming weeds for the human follies of mismanaging our fragile earth is common. Weeds are also called ‘the second greatest threat to biodiversity’ on the earth, a highly contentious viewpoint.A sturdy weed with serious taproots, Cats Ear is a perennial weed with leaves that can grow up to 20 cm. Basically, it looks like a Dandelion, but without the flowers and usually grows on dry soils. This perennial weed features light purple flowers that bloom in the summer. It has spiny leaves that emerge from rosettes and deep roots. It spreads via seeds.

Notes: This plant grows in woodlands, meadows, and disturbed areas but is a common weed of gardens and lawns. It’s also called “Lemon Clover” as it possesses clover-shaped leaves. Boiling the plant releases a natural orange dye. 70. Orchardgrass A self-seeding weed, Aquilegia can get up to 15 cm tall. It has purple flowers, strong roots that will make it hard for you to pool it out and blooms quite early. Notes: Yellow Salsify’s grey-green leaves make it highly distinctive. It produces yellow flowers which turn into fuzzy seedheads. It typically grows in fields and may not flower for up to 10 years. 57. Shepherd’s Purse Stories about weeds that are mostly written and read in popular media, including the internet, are mostly concocted to invoke fear and loathing instead of a proper ecological understanding. Whether or not inadvertently created, these negative narratives often reflect a form of nascent xenophobia and anxieties in the general public about ‘immigrants’ who arrive at new locations, having left their ‘native’ places of origin. Notes: This is the most common buttercup species. It is often seen in gardens, parks, fields, and forests. Short-tongued bees frequent this plant because of the concave shape of its flowers. 19. Cat’s Ear

“Some people look for a beautiful place, others make a place beautiful.”

Our garden is admittedly "wild" in many places, purely because we can't be bothered to mow too much of it!! Watching the number of wildflowers and weeds which proliferate between the wild grasses is quite something, especially when said weeds harbour moth larvae, dragonflies, housing for mice, butterflies, and many other creatures. Its leaves look like strawberry plant’s, but the resemblances between the two end there. 37. Common Horsetail Also known as pilewort, this perennial weed has glossy leaves that appear in spring. Its yellow, star-shaped flowers grow as high as 5 cm above the ground. It can spread via bulbs or seeds. A change in basic assumptions to tolerate the extraordinarily resourceful weedy taxa (‘living with weeds’) appears prudent, as plants and animals – as well as human societies – face uncertain times in a changing global climate. Notes: Although native to South America, Pink Woodsorrel primarily resides in European gardens. It possesses Fuschia-pink flowers that darken in the centre.

It has a taproot, enabling it to survive drought. It also fixes nitrogen in the soil, making it more nutrient-rich; many plants benefit from this! 9. Yellow Sweet Clover I have spent countless hours pouring over arcane books and thousands of scientific papers to dig out the unique ways our ancestors used wild and ornamental plants. Funnily enough, of Buddleia, which Mabey states is an "immigrant" weed, I planted and nurtured a dark rich purple variety which has only just about started to flower after 2 years. The wild buddleia which presumably birds have pooed through onto the gravel path is now monstrously proliferating without any human intervention or nurturing whatsoever! It just goes to show, nature will do what nature wants to do! Notes: The Orange Jewelweed gained half of its name from its bright orange blooms that extend up high into the sky. The second half, Jewelweed, is believed to have been given as the leaves appear silver and sparkly underwater. A tall weed with yellow flowers and six to nine petals, the Creeping Buttercup can get as tall as 50 cm. A low-growing weed, the Creeping Buttercup blooms from around April to late August or early September.Weeds by Nina Edwards discusses the scientific and cultural history of weeds, and how certain plants can come to be regarded as weeds while others are welcomed into gardens and allotments. Edwards reveals just how interesting and useful these seemingly annoying plants can be. This annual plant can get to a size of about 30 cm. It boasts pink flowers that emerge in late spring or early summer and thrives on dry soil as well as in dry weather. Shepherd’s Purse has been used in cooking throughout history, particularly in China, where it’s frequently cooked in stir-fries and rice cakes. 58. Poison Sumac

Notes: An annual plant native to Western North American waste areas. It has many branches and soft, hairy leaves. Get your handkerchiefs ready if you’re near this plant, as the pollen can cause hayfever flareups and allergic reactions. 60. Giant Ragweed Notes: Bittersweet is a plant of the nightshade family. It has poisonous red berries that can cause severe health implications if eaten. You’ll find this plant alongside hedges and in gardens. It’s known for its purple flowers with vibrant yellow stamens. 64. Dallisgrass Perennial weeds live for over two years and don’t reproduce from seeds, but from their stems, which can be either underground or above-ground. However, some perennial weeds produce seeds too, which increases their chances of survival. Broadleaf Weeds Annual grassy weeds live their lives for just one season, which starts in the spring when the soil temperature gets to about 18ᵒC. They have an accelerated growth all through the summer when they finally produce flowers and seeds, which begin another cycle in the spring.

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Notes: You’ll find it growing in waste areas, gardens and woodland margins. Its tall, erect stems are topped with a flurry of pink blooms. This book is not one that identifies specific weeds, but certainly many individuals come up for discussion. The author shows how many of the things we consider weeds originally came from Mediterranean areas. These “aliens” are now looked upon as perfectly native and of course in the way of imperialism, spread to the Americas as well as other places world wide. The exchanges have gone both ways of course. We live in a very open and accessible time now, so basically plants grow where life is congenial to them and where man has made conditions that suit them.