Why, hello everyone. I'm Mimi Faatz, and this is Hello from the Van! I was recently feeling rather poorly, and my doctor suggested a dandelion root tea to help with some of my symptoms. I ordered some online and as I took my first delicious sip, it was then that I thought, wait a second, is this the same dandelion I've been ripping out of my yard for years? Or is this some other magical plant with the same name? Because this is delicious. It was in fact the same one I've been ripping out of my yard for decades. And that got me thinking, why have I heard my entire life that dandelions are a weed and undesirable? And now I am paying through the nose to give me what is naturally growing in my yard. And that brings us to today's topic. What makes a weed? Before we get too far into this topic, we need to lay down some terminology, some groundwork, if you will. We have three new words today. These words are noxious, invasive, and native. And they represent the three different types of plant categories used by scientists and governments all around the world. We're going to start with the word native. A native plant is a plant that comes from a specific area or region, and that's the area that it is critical to the ecosystem or biome. A great example of this is the Saguaro cactus in Mexico and Southwest Arizona. It's native to that area, and it literally does not grow anywhere else on the planet. Its growth is critical to the area. It's so critical that there are government protections in place to keep the saguaro cactus thriving. You cannot cut down, move, damage, take a sample of, or use a saguaro cactus in any way without a permit from the Department of Agriculture. Doing so without a permit leads to hefty fines and is a felony. That's right. It is a class 4 felony to mess with a saguaro cactus without a permit. So that's one example of a native plant, one that is critical to the environment that it's from and native to a certain area. In short, native plants are the footholds of biomes and ecosystems. That brings us to our next word. The word is invasive. Invasive plants are non-native species that spread rapidly, causing ecological and economic harm by outcompeting native vegetation. Let's continue on with our saguaro cactus example. There's a threat to the saguaro cactus. Invasive, non-native, fire-adapted grasses create a dense fuel that fuels unnatural, intense wildfires in the Sonoran desert. Basically, the biggest threat to the saguaro cactus is an invasive grass. There are other prolific invasive species that cause havoc anywhere they go around the world. If you're like me, you're probably wondering, but the only difference between a native plant and a non-native plant is time, right? Everything had to start somewhere. But it does matter because the native wildlife is sustained on native plants. It's like dominoes. If you disrupt one, you set off a chain reaction. A lot of invasive plants are really good at using water. They have ways to find water and hoard it for themselves, thus destroying ecosystems and choking out native plants. So, native means from the area, and invasive or non-native means it comes to the area and is harming the native ecosystem. And that brings us to our final word, noxious. Noxious plants are ones that threaten health and life of both humans and animals. They can be native or invasive. What makes something noxious is the harm that it does. These are plants that can injure or kill humans, wildlife, or agriculture herds. Noxious plants are so prolific at threatening life that the US government has an entire classification system for them. Noxious plants are named and shamed here in the US, and billions, yes, with a B, billions of dollars are spent each year trying to eradicate and kill noxious plants. And now let's do some noxious weeds by the numbers. According to Congress.gov, the US government spends $2.3 billion annually on a range of federal activities to prevent, control, and eradicate invasive and noxious weeds. It's a big problem. But why spend $2.3 billion a year on some weeds, on some noxious plants? Basically, if we didn't invest in noxious weed control, we would lose areas of our forest agriculture systems and our food development. With noxious weeds comes the destruction of ecosystems. So those are our three types of plants: native, invasive, also known as non-native, and noxious. And now that we know all about them, let's talk about weeds. After quite a bit of research, I kept getting the same standard answer for the question, what is a weed? And all of those answers were basically the same. A weed is a plant that you personally don't want in that location. Now, that didn't fit into any of these three categories that we've discussed. A plant that I don't want somewhere could be a plant that you want. It's a very loose definition. And under that definition, a rosebush or a strawberry plant could be considered a weed. The definition simply didn't sit right with me. It's just too broad. There has to be more to it than just, I said it's a weed, so it's a weed. That's not how science works. This led me to even more questions. What if a weed could be beneficial? What about that dandelion tea I've been drinking? Do some weeds secretly have superpowers the masses aren't aware of? If a weed isn't inherently invasive or a noxious plant, could it be helpful? And oh boy, did this lead me down a deep dive? Wooey! I spoke with an herbalist, I found an ecologist, and I even spoke with several different doctors about weeds, herbs, and medicine. Here's what the ecologist said. I'll sum it up for you. She basically said that while many people think of weeds as invasive species, most weeds are not. Weeds in a lot of areas are actually crucial to ecosystems. They have great ecological value. They grow fast, they're adaptable, they prevent erosion, they bring nutrients from deep into the soil to the top of the soil for other plants. They support native pollinators, native wildlife, and more. This was mind-blowing to me. I don't know why I didn't think about weeds in this way. She basically said, "A weed is in the eye of the beholder." Let's go back to our dandelion tea example from the beginning of the episode. Why do we consider dandelions a weed? Especially if it's something that I am paying so much money for to order online. Well, the answer's kind of disappointing. It's capitalism, baby. Dandelions were introduced as a hardy food source in the Americas by the pilgrims. Dandelions quickly became an invasive species in some areas due to their quick growth, but they were still food. It would be like corn stalks randomly growing in your yard, annoying a little, but still delicious food. For thousands of years, dandelions were a hardy food source. They have more vitamin C than a lemon. Their leaves are great in a salad. Their roots are great for the digestive system and more. But we simply stopped eating them. So now, rather than being food in your yard, they're considered weeds. Corn would be a weed too if we weren't eating it. Lawn and fertilizer companies have actually used the dandelion as a sign of lawn neglect since World War II. For thousands of years, dandelion, food. For 85 years, we've been told that dandelions aren't food, but instead are a blight. They're a weed. And it makes sense. If you're not eating the food, the plant is a waste of space. So that's one type of weed, but what about the others? Well, I talked to an herbalist and a pediatrician. Here's what they said: lots of plants have medicinal value, but the knowledge of the plant has been lost. So now the plant is just seen as a weed. One specific example of a plant that was discussed with both the herbalist and the pediatrician was elderberries. Elderberries are one of the most studied medicinal plants in the entire world. There are many double-blind studies about their use in medicine, specifically to fight cold and flu symptoms. You might have even seen elderberry medicine next to your traditional cold medicines at places like Walmart, Target, CVS. The interesting thing about elderberries is you're not supposed to eat them straight off of the branch. They don't taste good and they can give you a stomachache. But processed, they make a delightful syrup and are highly valued. In fact, organic dried elderberries sell for over $34 a pound. It's one of the most expensive harvests in the United States. Even the herbalist and the pediatrician agreed that as a plant, it's incredibly useful. And yet, most people wouldn't even recognize it. A few summers back, I was walking through my neighborhood at the end of a long day and recognized an elderberry bush in my neighbor's yard. Branches so heavy with fruit that they bent over the sidewalk. I asked the neighbors about it and they said that tree was here when we moved in 20 years ago. The berries taste awful. They stain everything. We just haven't had time to cut it out. I was flabbergasted. I said, I will take everything. Can I harvest it? And I will pay you for what I collect. They said, oh no, as long as it's not getting tracked in the house, we would love for you to take it. My kids and I were able to harvest over 20 pounds of elderberries from their bush. What I'm trying to say here is that my neighbors hated those elderberry bushes. For them, they were an absolutely overgrown weed that stained the sidewalk, got tracked into the house on their shoes, and ruined their carpet. But for me, it was a gold mine. And this brings me to my own personal conclusion that weeds aren't just plants that are growing somewhere you don't want them to be. They're not necessarily native or non-native or noxious. It would seem that there's a fourth category, something I'd like to call naive plants. These are plants we've lost our common knowledge about. Things like dandelions and purslane and elderberries. Basically, one man's weed is another man's naive treasure. We're all about critical thinking here at Hello from the Van. So today's episode comes with a challenge. This spring, before you pull out that weed in your yard, I'd like you to look it up. Learn its name. If it's a native, invasive, or noxious plant. Take it from a naive weed to a categorized one. And then proceed accordingly. You might be surprised by what you find. And with that, I'm Mimi Faatz, and this has been another episode of Hello from the Van! Looking for sources? They're all cited right there in the show notes. We'll see you next week.