Japanese Knotweed and Bindweed making a happy display on my allotment every summer!
We made a new video showing ten more common weeds, which after this post hopefully will also be more popular! Unfortunately the embedding did not work this time so please click on the link below:
A brief description of the weeds with pictures by my partner Matt Summers, unless stated differently, follow below this introduction. Most weeds have been covered in a more detailed post in earlier posts and then mostly about their whole family for which there is a link on the start of each plant description.
Weeds are not at all bad; they are just inconvenient for us human beings!
Maybe we were just going to plant another more attractive plant in that place or maybe we desperately needed that exact spot for making a new drive for all our vehicles we need to park in front of our house? Or another more common reason is to just remove it as it looks aesthetically not pleasing to our tidy eyes!
Don’t worry I can just be as bad sometimes and not have a really proper reason for removing a weed…
But this is the exact reason why I write about them and try to make us see all their known good uses they got.
All their bad reasons for existence are mentioned already on many websites and this is hopefully not why you came to my site in the first place?
The whole idea of starting an Ethnobotanical garden came about after volunteering for 2 months at ‘Jardin Etnobotanico de Oaxaca’ in 2008!
Outside at EntranceInside the Entrance a detailed Plan!
So what is an Ethnobotanical garden? Hope to explain all about this on the next page and why I feel it is important to have one in this day and age of global warming and pandemics!
This is a one off blog about some weeds found in tropical countries. Most of those are actually exotics from other tropical climates which originally may have been introduced as an ornamental, just as in our own temperate world!
But you will be surprised that their are also temperate plants which can become weeds in the tropics!
My blog now got a big brother in the form of a short video each week about ten popular, or not so popular weeds!Watch the video below.
As we have all heard about this infamous one I would like to explore a little bit about its positive site, if there is any, and if there is anything we can do about its spread.
Japanese knotweed and native bindweed looking beautiful and innocent near my allotment boundary!
is a fast-growing and strong clump-forming perennial, with tall, dense annual stems. Stem growth is renewed each year from the stout, deeply-penetrating rhizomes (creeping underground stems).
It is a very costly affair to have it removed see more here:
Dock and Ragwort, two of the most notorious weeds!
This week it is mainly about the title or the Dock and Sorrel plants which forms a large genus in the family of the Polygonaceae or the Dock and Knotweeds family.
The Common Gorse or Ulex europaeus is a familiar plant in the Legume family! (All pictures unless mentioned otherwise are by Matt Summers)
What is now called The Fabaceae, was long known as Leguminosae and commonly these are known as the legume, pea, or bean family.
This is a large and economically important family in the world. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and/or their compound, stipulate leaves.
It is not as big in Britain but an interesting and useful family all the same! Credits are due once again to Stace‘s Flora, J. Barker’s Medicinal Flora, Plantlife and Wikipedia for most information. The link on the scientific names are mostly from the Plant Atlas 2020 Online and the information from the habitats is also copied from this Online Atlas. The link on the Common Name is from a website with usually some more info and pictures of the plant. I try and use UK sites as much as possible!
In case there are any medical uses stated with the plants mentioned below, please take sensible advise from a qualified herbalist.
If you would like to learn a bit more about the classification of this large family I can recommend Britannica.com webpage
NN behind the names in the Contents means Non-Native (is similar to neophyte) and has been introduced and often naturalised into the wild. FBBC in the Contents behind the names means that it also occurs in the Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country!
Information for this blog is again from various websites, for more information follow the links on the plant names. Green background signifies all sorts of uses, blue background for wildlife and ecological uses and pink background is for medicinal use. Pictures by Matt Summers, otherwise stated.
The very recognizable stems of the Silver Birch at Cannock Chase
After all the native, short, flowering plants, this time a blog on the native, tall, woody trees called Betulaceae, which includes the main genus, Betula or Birch but also our native Alder, Hornbeam and Hazel belong in this family.
The Betulaceae or Birch Family is number 59 in Stace and has 3 straight native species of Birch as well as several hybrids, subspecies and introduced, ornamental varieties.
The birch is a typical pioneer, which means it can colonize new land very rapidly in the right conditions and can therefore be seen as a weed by some who wouldn’t like them to do this!
But most of us can agree that the Birch tree is very beautiful and hoping for you to learn in the following text that it is also a very useful tree as are its cousins, Alder, Hornbeam and Hazel about which I will tell you more in the second part!
Close up from our Common Knapweed or Centaurea nigra. The main heading of my wonderful weed blog is of Greater Knapweed or Centaurea scabiosa! See further in today’s block to learn about all the virtues of this genus.
Today I will write the last part on our native Asteraceae or ‘composites’ and daisy family in common terms. All known medicinal uses and other uses are mentioned.
On the end of this post all the links to the posts I’ve done so far about this large family!
In the last post I covered with what we see as the common daisies: yellow centred disk flowered with a ray of white florets as well as a few other composites or Asteraceae.
This time we start with plants we don’t immediately associate with the composites, but closely observed we find always the common combination of many disc florets, surrounded or not with ray florets.
Then finishing off with the other typical group of the Asteraceae which are the various ‘dandelion like’ flower members!
Most medical information again from the Medicinal Flora by J. Barker. The links to the scientific and common name provide also with good, general information about the plants!
There is a green background for the text if the plant is edible, ornamental or otherwise useful for wildlife, etc. Pink background is either as a warning or medicinal use. Blue background for interesting facts!To make the post more colourful I have given the plant a background of the flower colour!
MOST MEDICINAL PLANTS ARE ALSO TOXIC IN LARGE DOSE. Advice is to never self-medicate.
In my last blog I introduced you to the main uses of the Asteraceae or the Daisy family. The first post was all about the classification of this large family.
Today I will list some of the commonly known, medicinal ones in our temperate climate, as mentioned in the Medicinal Flora by Julian Barker.
I will include links on both of the plant names so you will be able to read more about each plant on other useful websites. You can find more pictures on Wikipedia> tools >Wikipedia Commons as well as in the Gallery of Plant Atlas 2020 Online.
I will also colour code the blocks on the colour of the flower. Hope you will find that useful as well as pretty! Most uses are medicinal. Plants used as an ornamental or other uses are backed by a green colour! The link on the Scientific name as well as the information about habitat is from Plant Atlas 2020 Online (backed by blue).
Cautions: This is a ‘ethno’ blog on the known medical uses of the Composites or Daisy family. There are many cautions mentioned and self-medication is therefore not advised: seek help through a qualified herbalist!
