List of beneficial weeds
This is a list of undomesticated or feral plants, generally considered weeds, yet having some positive effects or uses, often being ideal as companion plants in gardens.
Beneficial weeds can accomplish a number of roles in the garden or yard, including fertilizing the soil, increasing moisture, acting as shelter or living mulch, repelling pests, attracting beneficial insects, or serving as food or other resources for human beings.
Chart
| Beneficial Weed Chart | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common name | Scientific name | Companion plant for | Attracts/hosts | Repels | Traps | Edibility | Medicinal | Avoid | Comments |
| Bashful mimosa | Mimosa pudica | Ground cover for tomatoes, peppers | predatory beetles | Used as a natural ground cover in agriculture | |||||
| Caper spurge | Euphorbia lathyris | Moles | Used in French folk medicine as an emetic and purgative[1] | Many domesticated animals can eat it, although it is poisonous to humans.[1] | |||||
| Crow garlic | Allium vineale | fruit trees, nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, etc.), brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, etc.) carrots | slugs, aphids, carrot fly, cabbage worms[2] | Can be used like conventional chives | beans, peas, parsley | This is a wild cousin of onions and garlic | |||
| Nettle | Urtica dioica | Broccoli, tomato,[3] valerian, mint, fennel | Despite its "sting", young plant parts are edible, as is much of the plant when blanched or otherwise prepared. It can be used to make herbal tea | Also once grown as a crop for its fiber. Its juice was once used in the place of rennet in cheese-making. It was also a source of "green" for dye. It can still be used as a high-protein additive in animal feed, once dried. | |||||
| Wild mustard | Brassicaceae | Grape vine,[4] radish, non-mustard brassica, including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli | Ladybugs | Traps various brassica pests, including aphids | Seeds and leaves are edible | beets | Domesticated mustard is a hybrid of three different species of wild mustard, all of which are still used in some places for food. This is known as the Triangle of U. | ||
| Wild rose | Rosa | Strawberries, grapes, roses | Rodents and deer | Traps Japanese beetles | Rose hips can be used in herbal teas | This includes the feral multiflora rose, brought to the US [5] both for use as root stock for domesticated roses, and as a "natural fence" for livestock. In the mid 20th century miles of multiflora rose hedge were planted in sequence. | |||
Categories of beneficial weeds
Pest-repellent
- Neem—repels leaf eating insects
Edible
- Blackberry—blackberries are delicious but they form thorny thickets when dead, and their thorn punctures can induce sickness; appropriate medical treatments may thereafter be costly.[6]
- Borage—all parts have various medicinal purposes, with the edible flowers being used in desserts.
- Burdock—roots are edible (as are the stalks, but particularly the young leaves [7])
- Chickweed (Stellaria media)—used in salads and also as ground cover
- Clover—its leaves can be eaten, but not in great numbers due to their natural acidity.[8]
- Cornflower—various colours; can be served as edible garnish to decorate salads.
- Dandelions—leaves are edible, while roots are edible after being roasted
- Flatweed—leaves are edible raw, while roots are edible after being roasted[9]
- Horsetail—primeval plant that produces its own vitamin D & is high in silica; tops are very similar to & may be eaten like asparagus
- Lamb's quarters—leaves and shoots, raw, also prevents erosion, also distracts leaf miners from nearby crops
- Nettle—young leaves collected before flowering used as a tea or spinach substitute. Plants have use as compost material or for fibre.
- Purslane—prepared raw for salads or sautéed
- Shepherd's purse—leaves are edible and often sautéed or blanched
- Watercress—can be eaten raw or cooked; is considered a weed in some cultures (caution required when harvesting wild because of the risk of contracting potentially fatal liver fluke)
Habitat for beneficial insects
- Wild blackberry—attracts predatory insects, and produces berries
- Motherwort—attracts bees
- Joe-Pye weed—habitat for pollinators and predatory insects
- Aster—habitat predatory insects
Shelter plants
- Normal grass can be used as ground cover, especially in nitrogenous soils.
Trap crops
Trap crops draw potential pests away from the actual crop intended for cultivation.
- Cowpea—attracts ladybird beetle, so planting around cotton fields protects them from sucking insects. It serves as source of food and niche.
Other
- Nightshade—breaks up hardpan, allowing roots to grow deeper.
See also
Organic approaches
Indexes
- Category:Beneficial insects
- Category:Sustainable agriculture
References
- 1 2 Purdue University: Euphorbia lathyris
- ↑ nss abstracts
- ↑ "{title}". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
- ↑ Riotte, Louise (1 January 1998). "Roses Love Garlic: Companion Planting and Other Secrets of Flowers". Storey Books – via Google Books.
- ↑ "{title}". Archived from the original on 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ↑ Lazaneo, Vincent. "Beware thorn punctures; they can make you sick".
- ↑ "Burdock: Pictures, Flowers, Leaves and Identification - Arctium lappa". www.ediblewildfood.com.
- ↑ "Trifolium - Clover - Edible Weeds and Bush Tucker Plant Foods". www.survival.org.au.
- ↑ "Hypochaeris radicata - Catsears". www.survival.org.au.
Bibliography
- Peterson, L.A. & Peterson, R.T. (1999). A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and central North America. Houghton-Mifflin.
- Duke, J.A., Foster, S., & Peterson, R.T. (1999). A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton-Mifflin.
- Gibbon, E. (1988). Stalking the Wild Asparagus. Alan C. Hood & Company.
- Sharma, O.P., R.C. Lavekar, K.S. Murthy and S.N. Puri (2000). Habitat diversity and predatory insects in cotton IPM: A case study of Maharashtra cotton eco-system. Radcliffe's IPM world textbook. Minnesota University, USA.
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