The contents of this website is copyright protected. It is against the law to duplicate any of the contents in whole or in part without the direct permission of Pat Leuchtman.
Peterkin Model of Weed Study
Recently I replaced my lost copy of The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia P. Hale, a book that was a favorite of mine when my children were young. The Peterkins were a family that seemed to get themselves into an amazing number of confusing situations, often solved by the Lady from Philadelphia. One chapter that I particularly liked was The Educational Breakfast.
Due to a misunderstanding Mrs. Peterkin decided that in their newest efforts at education which were to be carried on along alphabetical lines, they would have an alphabetical breakfast. Every letter of the alphabet had to be included at breakfast beginning with applesauce, bread and butter, coffee and on to Krout (sour), morning newspapers, quince marmalade, waffles and yeast biscuits. That left X and Z but the Lady from Philadelphia suggested that the food could be X-cellent and “That if you come with a zest, you will bring the Z.”
So they began with applesauce and thought about discussing it “first botanically, next historically; or perhaps first historically, beginning with Adam and Eve and the first apple.”
But one thing led to another and before long they were traveling to the apple orchards, and thought they would take in cider-making and maple syrup making at the same time. A long chapter with all their digressions.
And that is a long introduction to my weekend spent weeding. We don’t often pay too much attention to our weeds, but as one thing leads to another, they can take us down the roads of history and poetry and medicine.
I’ll begin with A, too. Agropyron repens is better known as witch grass, quack grass or couch grass. I have spent great stretches of time ripping out witch grass which spreads by underground succulent whitish rhizomes. It is satisfying to follow them through the soil, in the hope that one is getting the whole root, but alas, if just one little node is left the tenacious plant will renew itself. Hence countless years of weeding out witchgrass.
In the wild, its growth habit does have the virtue of creating dense mats that prevent erosion. In fact this is a virtue that many weeds have. If it were not for weeds holding the soil in bare banks and fields, soil would constantly be washed or blown away.
Agropyron repens has been known since ancient Greek times and both Dioscorides and Pliny wrote of a grass like witch grass. They also said, as have many herbalists since then, that a decoction made from the rhizomes is a remedy for urinary complaints.
Now on to burdock, properly known as Arctium lappa. At this time of the year the large leaves are all that we see appearing. As summer progresses the plant will grow tall and produce burrs which are the bane of mothers and gardeners. There is only one person I know of who was grateful for the burr – the man who invented Velcro, inspired by the structure of the burr.
I’ve dug up the long burdock tap roots, but this is a job. I’ve been told that all I have to do to eradicate burdock is keep it cut back and eventually, deprived to leaves and sustenance, the root will die. I have not been totally successful and probably will not be because burdock also grows on the roadsides and the burrs eventually ripen and send their seeds into my garden beds.
Some people have given up trying to destroy burdock and taken to eating it. Every part of the plant can be used at table, or medicinally. You can buy commercial herb teas that include burdock today. Decoctions of burdock have been used as a blood purifier boosting kidney function. Crushed burdock leaves can relieve the itch of mosquito and other insect bites. That’s useful to remember since I am so busy weeding and planting at black fly season. And there is no shortage of burdock.
As far as I am concerned Celandine, also known as Chelidonium majus, is one of the beautiful weeds. It grows to three feet on graceful stems with small bright yellow flowers that bloom all summer. In the sense that you can easily pull apart celandine plants, it is easy to weed. However, the roots are harder to remove, and so it will come back, a beautiful harbinger of spring.
A weak infusion of celandine applied to the eyelids with cotton pads has been used to soothe sore or puffy eyes, and its value in treating eye ailments led to one of the German names for the plant Augenkraut or eye herb. It has also been used to treat skin problems including eczema, ringworm, blisters and pimples.
Ground ivy, also known as Glechooma hederacea, is everywhere, in my lawns, the flower and herb beds, and the vegetable garden. It is quite pretty and I don’t mind it in the lawns where it adds its purplish flowers to my flowery mead. Its scalloped leaves are easily identified. I like some of its many common names which suggest how and where it grows: Gill-go-over-the-ground, earth ivy, creeping Jenny (or Charlie) Hedgemaids, and blue runner.
This weed has also been known for centuries and the Saxons clarified their beer by steeping leaves of ground ivy in the heated beer. The ground ivy prevented the beer from turning sour on the Saxons long sea voyages. There’s a fact to carry to the reunion of my Scandinavian family this summer.
There is no room here for ruminations on the plantain, pigweed, or even the dandelion, but I will say that such meditations on my weeds makes me feel a bit more kindly towards them – as I rip them out.
March 2005