# What decides when a weed is a weed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474 "2010-08-07T02:00:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/21 "2010-08-08T13:41:03Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > > [@spark240](#): > > > > In the depths of wilderness, there are no weeds. > > This is incorrect. Plants that are not natural to the area are called an invasive species, aka, a weed. Yep. And they can take over the natural fauna. The are usually brought in by people. Fill dirt, ‘grass’ seed, truck tires, lots of stuff. I bought what I was told was great natural local grass seed from a person and company I trust to re-plant an area I had to disturb for some new construction. It’s pretty much a field of dandalions now. With a little grass mixed in. I used think that any plant is better than nothing in our yard. Holds the soil, prevents erosion. I still lean that way, but am pretty unhappy about our new tenents. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/22 "2010-08-08T15:34:06Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > My wife would literally rather have bare dirt in her flower beds than plants that she doesn’t want to be there; with the result that half her flower beds are now sun-baked hardpack. IOW, she has the same attitude towards weeds that Communists have to free enterprise. 😛 Your wife has an incomplete attitude towards her beds - you don’t just take plants out and not put anything else back in, and has she never heard of mulch? 🙂 > [@enipla](#): > > \ > I used think that any plant is better than nothing in our yard. Holds the soil, prevents erosion. I still lean that way, but am pretty unhappy about our new tenents. I try to have an egalitarian attitude towards plants, too, but I’m about to go thermonuclear on the dandelions and thistle in our yard. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/23 "2010-08-08T15:44:17Z")
Paging **Athelas**! ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/24 "2010-08-08T15:54:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > … > Incidentally, most invasive “exotic” plants were not originally planted by gardeners, but were accidental imports/contaminants (purple loosestrife, for instance, got its start in the New World due to seeds present in ships’ ballast). According to [nps.gov](http://nps.gov), purple loosestrife was introduced in the 1800s, planted as an ornamental, and for medicinal purposes: [http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/lysa1.htm](http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/lysa1.htm) Of course, I’d readily believe some of the stuff found its way here accidentally, too. When I brought the contaminant issue further upthread, I was going to point out a government invasive plants list: [http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/main.shtml](http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/main.shtml) The entries on the plants in that list include means of introduction. Without going through them all a counting them up (the list isn’t complete anyway), it looks close enough between “accidental” and “planted deliberately”, that neither mechanism rates “most”. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/25 "2010-08-08T16:42:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > In the depths of wilderness, there are no weeds. > > Or alternately, they’re all weeds. > > Personally, most things that others call weeds, I call wildflowers. Except for thistles; they can all just wither and die. Add nettles and blackberry bushes :mad: ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/26 "2010-08-08T16:51:24Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > Or alternately, they’re all weeds. > > > > Personally, most things that others call weeds, I call wildflowers. Except for thistles; they can all just wither and die. > > Add nettles and blackberry bushes :mad: I’d accept all of the above to get rid of Poison Oak, no matter HOW native it is. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/27 "2010-10-13T22:39:52Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > Or alternately, they’re all weeds. > > > > Personally, most things that others call weeds, I call wildflowers. Except for thistles; they can all just wither and die. > > Add nettles and blackberry bushes :mad: But those are edible (or have edible parts). ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/28 "2010-10-14T03:02:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > . Except for thistles; they can all just wither and die. Och lad, a wee bit harsh den ya ken? There now, have a wee dram and reconsider. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/29 "2010-10-14T12:48:34Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > They even said that some trees could be classified as domesticated now as they have been selected for fewer seeds and not as successful at spreading. They were probably thinking of something else, but I don’t think it’s controversial to consider many varieties of tree as being domesticated; for instance much of _Prunus_, a lot of _Citrus_, and well, it’s right there in the name of _Malus Domesticus_ (not that a name is good evidence, but it’s pretty hard to argue that species isn’t domesticated). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474/30 "2010-10-14T16:59:53Z")
Then there are "noxious weeds, which do have a precise definition (defined by each state.) Here’s a typical definition. [QUOTE=Colorado Noxious Weed Act Title 35 Article 5.5, enacted 1996] The law defines noxious weeds as plant species that are not indigenous (non-native) to the state of Colorado and meet at least one of several criteria regarding their negative impacts upon crops, native plant communities, livestock, and the management of natural or agricultural systems. This definition applies to species listed by both the state and local governing bodies. [/QUOTE] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-decides-when-a-weed-is-a-weed/549474.md?page=1)