List of beneficial weeds

This is a list of undomesticated or feral plants, generally considered weeds, yet having some positive effects or uses, often being ideal as companion plants in gardens.

Beneficial weeds can accomplish a number of roles in the garden or yard, including fertilizing the soil, increasing moisture, acting as shelter or living mulch, repelling pests, attracting beneficial insects, or serving as food or other resources for human beings.

Chart

Beneficial Weed Chart
Common name	Scientific name	Companion plant for	Attracts/hosts	Repels	Traps	Edibility	Medicinal	Avoid	Comments
Bashful mimosa	Mimosa pudica	Ground cover for tomatoes, peppers	predatory beetles				Its extract immobilizes the filariform larvae of Strongyloides stercoralis in less than one hour.^[1] In contemporary medicine, Mimosa pudica is being investigated for its potential to yield novel chemotherapeutic compounds. It contains an alkaloid called mimosine, which has been found to have potent antiproliferative and apoptotic effects.^[2]		Used as a natural ground cover in agriculture
Caper spurge	Euphorbia lathyris			Moles			Used in folk medicine as an antiseptic and purgative^[3]		Many domesticated animals can eat it, although it is poisonous to humans.^[3]
Common name	Scientific name	Companion plant for	Attracts/hosts	Repels	Traps	Edibility	Medicinal	Avoid	Comments
Crow garlic	Allium vineale	fruit trees, nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, etc.), brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, etc.) carrots		slugs, aphids, carrot fly, cabbage worms^[4]		Can be used like conventional chives	3-mercapto-2-methylpentan-1-ol in onion was found to have an antioxidant potent that inhibits peroxynitrite induced diseases.^[5]	beans, peas, parsley	This is a wild cousin of onions and garlic
Common name	Scientific name	Companion plant for	Attracts/hosts	Repels	Traps	Edibility	Medicinal	Avoid	Comments
Wild mustard	Brassicaceae	Grape vine , radish, non-mustard brassica, including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli	Ladybugs		Traps various brassica pests, including aphids	Seeds and leaves are edible		beets	Domesticated mustard is a hybrid of three different species of wild mustard, all of which are still used in some places for food. This is known as the Triangle of U.
Wild rose	Rosa	Strawberries, grapes, roses		Rodents and deer	Traps Japanese beetles	Rose hips can be used in herbal teas	Same medicinal benefits as domesticated rose		This includes the feral multiflora rose, brought to the US both for use as root stock for domesticated roses, and as a "natural fence" for lifestock. In the mid 20th century miles of multiflora rose hedge were planted in sequence.

Categories of beneficial weeds

Pest-repellent

Neem—repels leaf eating insects

Edible

Borage—all parts have various medicinal purposes, with the edible flowers being used in desserts.
Burdock—roots are edible (as are the stalks, but particularly the young leaves ^[6])
Chickweed (Stellaria media) -- used in salads and also as ground cover
Cornflower various colours; can be served as edible garnish to decorate salads.
Horsetail—primeval plant that produces its own vitamin D & is high in silica; tops are very similar to & may be eaten like asparagus
Lamb's quarters—leaves and shoots, raw, also prevents erosion, also distracts leaf miners from nearby crops
Nettle—young leaves collected before flowering used as a tea or spinach substitute. Plants have use as compost material or for fibre.
Purslane—prepared raw for salads or sautéed
Shepherd's purse—leaves are edible and often sautéed or blanched
Watercress—can be eaten raw or cooked; is considered a weed in some cultures (caution required when harvesting wild because of the risk of contracting potentially fatal liver fluke)

Habitat for beneficial insects

Wild blackberry—attracts predatory insects, and produces berries
Motherwort—attracts bees
Joe-Pye weed—habitat for pollinators and predatory insects
Aster—habitat predatory insects

Shelter plants

Normal grass can be used as ground cover, especially in nitrogenous soils.

Trap crops

Trap crops draw potential pests away from the actual crop intended for cultivation.

Cowpea—attracts ladybird beetle, so planting around cotton fields protects them from sucking insects. It serves as source of food and niche.

Other

Nightshade—breaks up hardpan, allowing roots to grow deeper.

References

↑ Robinson RD, Williams LA, Lindo JF, Terry SI, Mansingh A (1990). "Inactivation of strongyloides stercoralis filariform larvae in vitro by six Jamaican plant extracts and three commercial anthelmintics". West Indian Medical Journal. 39 (4): 213–7. PMID 2082565.
↑ "Antiproliferative effect of mimosine in ovarian cancer". Journal of Clinical Oncology. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
1 2 Purdue University: Euphorbia lathyris
↑ nss abstracts
↑ Rose, Peter; Widder, S; Looft, J; Pickenhagen, W; Ong, CN; Whiteman, M; et al. (2003). "Inhibition of peroxynitrite-mediated cellular toxicity, tyrosine nitration, and α1-antiproteinase inactivation by 3-mercapto-2-methylpentan-1-ol, a novel compound isolated from Allium cepa". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 302 (2): 397–402. PMID 12604361. doi:10.1016/S0006-291X(03)00193-1.
↑

Peterson, L.A. & Peterson, R.T. (1999). A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and central North America. Houghton-Mifflin.
Duke, J.A., Foster, S., & Peterson, R.T. (1999). A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton-Mifflin.
Gibbon, E. (1988). Stalking the Wild Asparagus. Alan C. Hood & Company.
Sharma, O.P., R.C. Lavekar, K.S. Murthy and S.N. Puri. (2000). Habitat diversity and predatory insects in cotton IPM: A case study of Maharashtra cotton eco-system. Radcliffe's IPM world textbook. http:// www.ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/ sharma.htm. Minnesota University, USA

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