Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: sooyeah on 15/06/2008 19:40:23

Title: What is a weed?
Post by: sooyeah on 15/06/2008 19:40:23
Can anyone give a complete definition? Because it appears to me at the moment to most gardeners it's "basically anything I don't want growing there".
Title: What is a weed?
Post by: sooyeah on 17/06/2008 17:22:06
So is no one prepared to venture even a guess?
Title: What is a weed?
Post by: neilep on 17/06/2008 19:09:51
Well, that's what I always thought the definition was......just a plant that one does not want growing in a specific place !.....though..I suppose you find it mostly attributed to dandelions, nettles and various grasses etc etc !!

That's the best I can do without googling it !
Title: What is a weed?
Post by: blakestyger on 17/06/2008 20:12:48
Yes - in one conservation group I worked with years ago we used to clear commons that had become overgrown because they weren't grazed any more. We were taking out silver birches and such that were referred to as 'weed trees' because they had self-set.
Title: What is a weed?
Post by: rosalind dna on 19/06/2008 17:28:16
Yes a weed is the plant that you don't want in your garden but then for some people roses can be weeds as can daisies etc.

Does that help a wee bit
Title: What is a weed?
Post by: neilep on 19/06/2008 18:41:35
Rosalind !

Do ewe remember Bill and Ben and Weed ?

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Title: What is a weed?
Post by: Karen W. on 19/06/2008 18:51:25
Big Beautiful Women..LOL
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: Monox D. I-Fly on 11/03/2019 07:11:21
Big Beautiful Women..LOL
Just like you
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: alancalverd on 11/03/2019 11:11:45
Bertrand Russell defined dirt as "matter in the wrong place", so I guess the same criterion would apply to a weed. Time was that rhododendron was an exotic import to the UK, but most public gardens now regard it as an invasive pest.
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: Pregily on 12/03/2019 15:05:40
I know cannabis sometimes calls "weed"
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: jimvideo on 09/05/2019 15:10:26
For me a plant that kills the plants around for a short growing season is a weed. The dandelion is a good example of this, killing grass around it and spreading seeds.
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: Bored chemist on 09/05/2019 19:17:40
a plant that kills the plants around
How do dandelions kill grass?
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: Monox D. I-Fly on 02/09/2019 08:05:36
a plant that kills the plants around
How do dandelions kill grass?
By robbing them from their food source?
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: Bored chemist on 02/09/2019 19:15:21
For me a plant that kills the plants around for a short growing season is a weed. The dandelion is a good example of this, killing grass around it and spreading seeds.
Unless it isn't a weed, but the crop you are growing
https://www.tyrepress.com/2016/08/commercial-dandelion-production-the-goal-of-new-continental-lab/
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 18/09/2019 16:55:49
Why do some people refer to the smoking of cannabis as smoking "weed"?
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: alancalverd on 18/09/2019 19:15:34
Because a weed is, like, natural and countercultural, man, not like capitalist monoculture that destroys everything just to make, like, food and stuff. Or tobacco, 'cause that' like legal and taxed and conformist and stuff. Support the revolution. Grow your own. Stick it to the man. Hey, it's munchie time....
Title: Re: What is a weed?
Post by: Bored chemist on 18/09/2019 19:30:28
Also, in many places it's very easy to grow.