If rye, tomatoes, beans, wheat and barley started out as weeds, why not use weeds available to us now to develop more crops for our own production?
For example, one of the most promising weed in North America is the dandelion, which is in the same plant family as chicorea. The parts of dandelions that are usable and useful to man are surprisingly versatile. The stem produces a latex that can be distilled into several types of substances, and surely could be greatly improved to obtain rubber-like products to replace commercial rubber from the rubber trees grown in monoculture in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Cities in southern United States have been experimenting with rubber sidewalks and i fantasize in a time when maybe dandelions will be collected to build rubber sidewalks… Another use of the dandelion is the leaves that can enter into salad and eaten as is. Leaves of dandelions tend to be bitter but the taste can be improved to obtain more iron content such as spinach leaves. The root of the dandelion is also very tasty, and has anti-hepatopathy properties, along with other characteristics that, again, could be encouraged through selection and genetic engineering. The dandelion can possibly produce quality wine, should one be prepared to devote energies to its manufacturing. Before raising concerns about the marketability of the dandelion wine product, remember that before the 1940’s turkey meat was not seen on the average American family’s table and that before the 1980’s, kiwi fruits were a hard sell…
Another possible weed crop to develop is c ommon plantain, a colonizer, which means that it grows in such locations that are inaccessible to other plants, and that plantain is one of the first plants that grows in such environments. Plantain is known for the anti-inflammatory capacities of its leaves, which could be distilled to obtain either an ointment or a liquid applicator. The common plantain is already available for anyone who has a few minutes to spend, and is easy to pick as its root system is not extensive and its replacement rate is quite high.
Still more on the list of potentially useful weeds, we find the chenopods, who are the « basic » wild versions of many plants we eat every day. Chenopods could serve as the foundation for more genetic engineering of vegetable varieties to possibly replace any crop that becomes either extinct or is destroyed by mass plague. The proximity with certain existent crops would allow quick replacement of previous crops related to the chenopoods and thus ensure the perennity of agriculture in the affected areas.The seeds of chenopods are very rich in protein and the leaves are almost as rich in minerals as spinach leaves. Currently known and developed crop culture of chenopods are Quinoa and Kaniwa (in South America) and Fat Hen (North America) and Good King Henry (Europe). Research is needed to increase the protein value and reduce the allergenic factor of the Chenopod family.
Posted by phonono at août 18, 2006 08:48 AM