Richard Mabey

Month of July 2022: Ecology (con’t)

Weeds: In Defense of Nature’s Most Unloved Plants by Richard Mabey (2012). eBook purchased from Amazon for $1.99 on April 26, 2019.

UGHH! Not what I expected it to be at all and quite a brutal read!

If you like poetry and 17th century history, Shakespearian and folk history on weeds, and are from Britain, then you just might like this book and give it a much higher rating. Me? I don’t like it so much. There was only a little bit of information I learned from this book. It’s obvious HE is very informed on ALL the weeds of Britain, and I do admire that, but I don’t like to read them on paper.

Simply put: Weeds are any plants that sabotage our human plans.

I’m not so sure about this author and his “written” words. For example: He spoke of cogon grass. This is a very invasive grass that appeared and invaded the forests of Vietnam after the U.S. sprayed agent orange on them to clear the leaves and brush so the Vietnamese couldn’t hide. The seeds were there all along, but the clearing gave them the opportunity they needed to sprout, grow and spread. The author states that it just RECENTLY appeared in the U.S., mostly in the southern states as some kind of poetic justice. Well, that’s just not true at all. Yes, cogon grass is growing in some southern states. It was first introduced to Louisiana in 1912 and then to Florida in the 1930’s to control erosion and used as a forage crop. Then was used as packing material. This was way before Vietnam. It is still being sold in some nurseries as ornamental, even though the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has banned cogon grass by federal legislation. And, yes, it is nearly impossible to eradicate!

Another point where the author rubbed me the wrong way…he brought it up first, so I get to respond…is the fact that he is obviously anti-Jew and more than likely anti-Christian. He claims, AS IF IT IS FACT, that the tribes of Yahweh rejected the culture of the Middle East and declared themselves the chosen people of a single God. They invented Monotheism, the belief that there is one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Hmmm! Invented?

Last words and thoughts from the author that I think perfectly describes weeds and that I agree with (p. 289-90):

They are opportunists. They fill the empty spaces of the earth to repair the vegetation destroyed either naturally by fires or floods, or destroyed by humans with aggressive farming and pollution. They stabilize the soil, conserve water loss, bring nutrients back to the surface, and provide shelter for other plants.

Anyway, I’m happy to move onto my next read….

END OF REVIEW

JUST MY PERSONAL NOTES:

Some weeds with deeper roots contain much higher nutrition than grasses used for grazing animals. For example grasses only contain about 0.4% magnesium, whereas chicory, ribwort plantain and yarrow contain over 1%. Any animal that chews the cud, a ruminant, needs the mineral cobalt, which is 160 times greater in plantains and buttercups than in grass. Dandelion, stinging nettle and thistles have 5 times more copper than grasses and 1-1/2 times more iron. This just shows the importance of some weeds.

KUDZU’s start in the U.S. – It was introduced here from South-East Asia in the 1870’s. In 1876, there was held a Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia with a Japanese garden displaying that country’s native plants, which included kudzu. American’s loved it and started planting it as an ornamental. In 1920, they began selling it as a cattle forage crop. It was then used to help control the ‘Dust Bowl’ in the 1930’s. By 1940, the U.S. government was paying farmers up to $8.00 per acre of planted kudzu. Now, we see our mistake. It’s advance appears to be unstoppable…according to this author. Kudzu can grow a foot in twelve hours. Stands of whole native forests can quickly disappear, choking them out. Kudzu reaches up to heights of 90 feet or more. He claims kudzu now covers over 2 million acres of our forests. But, according the Smithsonian article (see link below), kudzu has only overtaken 227,000 forest land. Other sources are inflating kudzu’s invasion and claiming it is overtaking at a rate of 150,000 acres a year. But, the Forest Service claims it is actually only overtaking no more than 2,500 acres a year. Now we have the Japanese kudzu bug that has found its own way here and is quickly destroying the kudzu vine.

According to the Smithsonian article, the scare hype comes from two sources that are even used by professional and scholarly people: 1) a small garden club publication [what small garden club?], and two popular how-to books…a kudzu craft book [?] and a culinary/healing guide book [“The Book of Kudzu: A Culinary and Healing Guide” by William Shurtleff (1985)]. Kudzu is officially outlawed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. YET, here in the South, (according to this book by Mabey…which now I know may not be true), kudzu is still being used for controlling erosion. I haven’t found proof of this in writing yet.

Kudzu seems to be more prominent growing in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia where it might truly appear to be the “vine that ate the South”. I’ve never seen it around here, maybe in Louisiana once while on a drive. If it ever makes its way here, I’ll definitely utilize it as food or whatever (no need to look into that yet since it's not found around here) and would love to learn to harvest stems for basket weaving. Grazing animals keeps the vine in check. Otherwise, it will grow out of control, much like the Texas native Mustang Grape Vines or the Frost Grape Vines, which I thought was kudzu, and has grown so fast and covered our whole hill of elderberries in the back five in just this one summer.

Smithsonian Magazine article: “The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine that Never Truly Ate the South” (link):

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-story-kudzu-vine-ate-south-18...

MIMOSA TREES - Good for wetlands, but considered invasive. Has taken over 30,000 acres of Britain’s wetlands. They do pop up from time to time around here and can be seen hovering over the bayou. They have beautiful pink blooms. Our neighbor has one in the middle of her yard. It’s beautiful.… (lisätietoja)