Many of the weeds we battle with were at one point some of our favorite plants, and part of the reason they are such formidable weeds is because we made them that way. We selected traits that made them highly succussful both in and out of cultivation. Chicory is one of these weeds, and Daniel tells of the love/hate relationship we have with this plant.
Sierra is back to tell us a bit about another weed – Queen Anne’s lace. The carrots we eat today are actually a domesticated version of Queen Anne’s lace, and even though Queen Anne’s lace can be a problematic weed, it also carries genes that could lead to improvements in domesticated carrots. Yet another reason why the story of weeds is more complicated than we might think.
See Also: Eating Weeds: Chicory (Awkward Botany)
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This episode aired on Radio Boise in September 2019 and featured music by Toy Zoo.
Boise Biophilia 