There’s more to know about weeds

Jill Severn portrait

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but a weed by another name is a different story. A weed known by its scientific Latin name can be transformed in our minds from a pest to a gift of nature.

That’s because if you learn the Latin name, you’ve probably learned about the weed’s creative ways of growing and multiplying in your garden. The more you know about a weed, the harder it is to bear it any grudge. Even if you don’t quite learn to love them, at the very least you come to respect them as worthy opponents, most of whom you will never completely vanquish.

Every uncultivated, unwelcome plant in our gardens has a life story worth knowing. Here are two of them:

A photo of the weed bedstraw

Bedstraw is also known as stickwilly, cleavers, catchweed, grip grass and several other names. Its formal name is Galium aparine.

It’s a rather delicate-looking, vining plant that can grow six to ten feet long. It will climb any plant or fence that’s handy or sprawl along the ground. It has a very thin root, which usually breaks off at ground level when you try to pull it by hand, so it’s guaranteed to regrow. That’s one way it survives. It also hides under shrubs and perennials, so it’s often not seen until it’s already grown up and gone to seed.

But foiling gardeners trying to weed it out is bedstraw’s Plan B.

It’s Plan A is to stick to everything and everyone who touches it. Its seeds are sticky, too; they will stick to shoes, pantlegs, and animal fur and turn you, your dog, and your cat into unwitting seed dispersal agents.

It also makes the world a better place:

• It is a “pioneer plant” that is among the first to grow after a wildfire; it helps prepare the soil for successive species.
• It is a host plant for the caterpillars of many butterflies and moths.
• Young leaves and stems are high in vitamin C and can be used in soups and stews and pureed raw to make pesto. Some people like it as tea.
• Some European countries use it in drugs and food supplements and it has a long history with various uses in folk medicine.
• Someone, somewhere, is believed to have used it as a mattress stuffing (hence the name bedstraw), but it must take an acre of it; this is not a big plant.
• PedaniusDioscorides, the Greek physician and author of De Materia Medica, a 5-volume encyclopedia about herbal medicine, reported that ancient Greek shepherds would compress the stems to make a sieve used to strain milk.

A photo of shotweed

Shotweed, also known as spitweed or bittercress, is most famous for its exploding seed pods, which can shoot seeds several feet away, sometimes right into a gardener’s face. The slightest disturbance sets off its tiny artillery.

Its botanical name is Cardamine hirsute, and it’s an import from Europe very similar to a native species that is now rare.

It doesn’t start life as a thug; it starts as a perfect little rosette of bright green leaves. It’s hardy enough to grow in winter and is sometimes already decked out with tiny white flowers when we first venture into the garden in early spring.

If you didn’t know what came next – the gleeful eruption of seed pods on taller stems – you might not want to pull such a charming plant.

But violence prevention is not the only reason to pull it early: Before it blooms, it’s prized as a salad green, compared in flavor to watercress. A single plant would make a beautiful garnish for any dish.

Early bees and butterflies are attracted to its flowers, and it’s a food source for caterpillars.

But its virtues pale in comparison to the cleverness of its seed dispersal strategy. Plants aren’t likely to have a sense of humor, but it’s hard not to see exploding seed pods as a prank on gardeners.

We’ll never eradicate bedstraw or shotweed. But diligent weeding can foil enough of their clever seed dispersal strategies for gardeners to live in peace with both species.

Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia, where she grows vegetables, flowers, and a small flock of chickens. She loves conversation among gardeners. Start one by emailing her at  jill@theJOLTnews.com