Is Weed A Weed?
Let’s start at the beginning. In cultural shorthand, a weed is a pest. In more specific, but decidedly not scientific terms, a weed is a wild plant that is growing itself all up in some other situation in which cultivated — i.e. desired — plants are trying to be all beautiful and manicured and sway in the sunshine unsullied by their lesser-than brethren.
According to the Weed Science Study of America — yup, that’s a real nonprofit founded in 1956 — weeds are marked by a few attributes that render them much-maligned among horticulturalists. Weeds produce a shit-ton of seeds per plant; these seeds can survive for a long-ass time, growing dormant until just the right conditions present themselves, and then they go buck wild in yer rose-bed. Weeds are typically able to establish themselves rapidly and often possess mechanisms that enable them to spread their nasty bits all over town, sometimes even without seeds (i.e. asexual reproduction). And lastly, weeds can often thrive in locations where more “desirable” — i.e. fragile — plants can’t get their shit together to survive.
In its most positive light, a weed is considered a “plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered” (apparently Ralph Waldo Emerson said that); less favorably, it’s considered a pernicious bastard that negatively impacts human lives.
