Noxious Weed
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A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a
weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...
that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is harmful to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s or
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...
s, or humans or
livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...
. Most noxious weeds have been introduced into an ecosystem by ignorance, mismanagement, or accident. Some noxious weeds are native, though many localities define them as necessarily being non-native. Typically they are plants that grow aggressively, multiply quickly without natural controls (native herbivores, soil chemistry, etc.), and display adverse effects through contact or ingestion. Noxious weeds are a large problem in many parts of the world, greatly affecting areas of
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
,
forest management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, forest protection, and forest regulation. This includes man ...
,
nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
s, parks and other open space. Many noxious weeds have come to new regions and countries through contaminated shipments of feed and crop
seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...
s or were intentionally introduced as
ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...
s for horticultural use. Some "noxious weeds", such as ragwort, produce copious amounts of nectar, valuable for the survival of bees and other pollinators, or other advantages like larval host foods and habitats. In the US, wild parsnip '' Pastinaca sativa'', for instance, provides large tubular stems that some bee species hibernate in, larval food for two different swallowtail butterflies, and other beneficial qualities.


Types

Some noxious weeds are harmful or poisonous to humans,
domesticated Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants, takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a steady supply of reso ...
grazing
animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...
s, and wildlife. Open fields and grazing pastures with disturbed soils and open sunlight are often more susceptible. Protecting grazing animals from toxic weeds in their primary feeding areas is therefore important.Prather pp. 27,45,53,67-73 There are marine, terrestrial, and parasitic noxious weeds.


Control

Some guidelines to prevent the spread of noxious weeds are: # Avoid driving through noxious weed-infested areas. # Avoid transporting or planting seeds and plants that one cannot identify. # For noxious weeds in flower or with seeds on plants, pulling 'gently' out and placing in a secure closable bag is recommended. Disposal such as hot composting or contained burning is done when safe and practical for the specific plant. Burning
poison ivy Poison ivy is a type of allergenic plant in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' native to Asia and North America. Formerly considered a single species, '' Toxicodendron radicans'', poison ivies are now generally treated as a complex of three separate s ...
can be fatal to humans. # Using only certified weed-free seeds for crops or gardens. Maintaining control of noxious weeds is important for the health of habitats, livestock, wildlife, and native plants, and of humans of all ages. How to control noxious weeds depends on the surrounding environment and habitats, the weed species, the availability of equipment, labor, supplies, and financial resources. Laws often require that noxious weed control funding from governmental agencies must be used for eradication, invasion prevention, or native habitat and plant community restoration project scopes. Insects and fungi have long been used as
biological control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or o ...
s of some noxious weeds and more recently
nematodes The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (he ...
have also been used.


Eradication

According to control experts, there are chemical, physical ways, and environmental ways of eradicating noxious weeds. Those include pulling the entire weed out of the ground, spraying herbicide if it's a large area, and using machines to turn over the soil. According to farmers, using goats can prove a more ecological way of getting rid of noxious weeds, instead of using herbicide. Also, overplanting a native species is a long term solution in eradicating noxious weeds.


Controversy and biases

Agricultural needs, desires, and concerns do not always mesh with those of other areas, such as
pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female carpel, stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are ...
nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...
provision. Ragwort, for instance, was rated as the top flower meadow nectar source in a UK study, and in the top ten in another. Its early blooming period is also particularly helpful for the establishment of
bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...
colonies. Thistles that are considered noxious weeds in the US and elsewhere, such as '' Cirsium arvense'' and '' Cirsium vulgare'', have also rated at or near the top of the charts in multiple UK studies for nectar production, one of its native locations. These thistles also serve as a larval host plant for the painted lady butterfly. There can be, therefore, a conflict between agricultural policy and point of view and the point of view of conservationists or other groups.


By country


Australia

In
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, the term "noxious weed" is used by state and territorial governments. Some noxious weeds in Australia are alligator weeds, horsetails, and branched broomrape. The government of Victoria will get rid of all these plants for free. Alligator weeds are banned in all the states and territories of Australia. They can create large mats that can cause considerable blockages of waterways. Horsetails are poisonous to livestock. They are also extremely challenging to eradicate, as they can fragment off and the fragmented pieces can grow new plants. Kind of like succulents. Branched broomrapes are parasitic noxious weeds. They attract themselves to the roots of other plants and extract water and nutrients.


Canada

In Canada, constitutional responsibility for the regulation of agriculture and the environment is shared between the federal and provincial governments. The federal government through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulates invasive plants under the authority of the ''Plant Protection Act'', the ''Seeds Act'' and statutory regulations. Certain plant species have been designated by the CFIA as noxious weeds in the ''Weed Seeds Order''. Each province also produces its own list of prohibited weeds. In Alberta, for example, a new ''Weed Control Act'' was proclaimed in 2010 with two weed designations: "prohibited noxious" (46 species) which are banned across Alberta, and "noxious" (29 species) which can be restricted at the discretion of local authorities.


European Union

Since 2016, following the EU Regulation 1143/2014 on Invasive Alien Species (IAS), the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
publishes updated lists of IAS of Union concern. Since 2022 August 02 there are 41 plant species of Union concern. An example of highly invasive and phototoxic weeds are 3 related species of hogweed: * Giant hogweed grows up to 5m tall. It has spread mostly across
British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
,
Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, Czechia,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
,
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
and also in some other parts of western and central Europe and
Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
. * Sosnowsky's hogweed grows up to 5m tall. It has spread mostly in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
,
Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...
and east of EU border and also in some parts of central Europe as far as Germany and Denmark. * Persian hogweed grows up to 2.5m tall. It is prevalent mostly in Scandinavia. There are active measures being taken to stop their spread and possibly eradicate them from European environment. The
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
funded the ''Giant Alien'' project to combat the hogweed plants.


New Zealand

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
has had a series of Acts of Parliament relating to noxious weeds: the Noxious Weeds Act 1908, the Noxious Weeds Act 1950, and the Noxious Plants Act 1978. The last was repealed by the Biosecurity Act 1993, which used words such as " pest", "
organism An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...
" and "
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
", rather than "noxious". Consequently, the term "noxious weed" is no longer used in official publications in New Zealand. According to this Act, control of the majority of problem weeds, now called 'pest plants', is the responsibility of Regional Councils, or unitary authorities, in a few councils. Some common noxious weeds in New Zealand are broad-leaved dock, English ivy, and '' Oxalis''. These plants may be aesthetically pleasing, but they smother native plants and are hard to eradicate.


United Kingdom

The Weeds Act 1959 ( 7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 54) covers
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
, It is mainly relevant to
farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...
s and other
rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...
settings rather than the allotment or
garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
-scale growers. Five "injurious" weeds are listed. The word "injurious" means in this context harmful to agriculture, not liable to cause injury. All the species listed apart from ragwort are edible and appear in Richard Mabey's book Food for Free. They are all native plants. These are: * Spear thistle ('' Cirsium vulgare'') * Creeping, or field, thistle ('' Cirsium arvense'') * Curled dock ('' Rumex crispus'') * Broad-leaved dock ('' Rumex obtusifolius'') * Common ragwort ('' Jacobaea vulgaris'') The
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental quality, environmenta ...
(DEFRA) provides guidance for the removal of these weeds from infested land. Much of this is oriented towards the use of
herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page f ...
s. The act does not place any automatic legal responsibility on landowners to control the weeds, or make growing them illegal, but they may be ordered to control them. Most common farmland weeds are not "injurious" within the meaning of the Weeds Act and many such plant species have conservation and environmental value. The various UK government agencies responsible have a duty to try to achieve a reasonable balance among different interests. These include agriculture, countryside conservation and the general public. Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to plant or grow certain specified foreign invasive plants in the wild, listed in schedule 9 of the act, including Giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed. Some local authorities have by-laws controlling these plants. There is no statutory requirement for landowners to remove these plants from their property.
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
is covered by the Noxious Weeds (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 (NISI 1977/52). This mirrors the Great Britain legislation, and covers the same five species, with the addition of: * Wild oat ('' Avena fatua'') * Wild oat ('' Avena ludoviciana'')


United States

The federal government defines noxious weeds under the Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974. Noxious weeds are also defined by the state governments in the United States. Noxious weeds came to the U.S. by way of colonization. Some wildflowers are lesser known noxious weeds. A few of them are banned in certain states. For example, the Ox-eye daisy came to the Americas over in colonizers' seed bags and has become the common daisy seen at roadsides. It is prohibited in 10 states for agriculture, and is the most banned out of any wildflower.


See also

* '' Caulerpa taxifolia'' *
Invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...
* International Plant Protection Convention


References


External links

;Australia
Noxious Weeds List
at Weeds Australia ;New Zealand * ;United States
Weeds
at the Bureau of Land Management (US)
Noxious Weed Program
at the US Department of Agriculture * — * {{DEFAULTSORT:Noxious Weed Weeds Agricultural pests Garden pests Habitat