From the naturalist’s calendar. March 28 Weed Appreciation Day.

By definition, a weed is a plant that is undesirable in crops (from the point of view of agricultural, forestry or fisheries management). The common perception is that it occurs in a particular habitat, e.g., field, meadow, orchard or garden, and it cannot be converted into food, clothing, etc. Most people think that they are organisms, intrusive and undesirable and need to be eradicated in all possible ways such as pulling them out and spraying them with chemicals….

However, just because a plant is classified as a weed doesn’t always mean it has nothing to offer. Unfortunately, this is frequently due to people’s insufficient knowledge of the world around them. An example is the garden Taraxacum popularly known as dandelion, which is one of the most popular weeds in our country (it even grows between flagstones) and in France and Germany is a prized crop. Common weeds such as plantago major and lanceolata, quackgrass, nettle, chenopodium, Lamium album L. are also valuable plants used in herbalism.

Today’s day was enacted to encourage people to learn more about this interesting group of plants.

Text: Dariusz Wiech