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The Kid Should See This

What is a weed? Rethinking these plants with David Attenborough

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“We call them, perhaps a little unkindly, weeds,” Sir David Attenborough describes in this time-lapse footage-filled BBC clip from The Green Planet. “In fact, these plants are pioneers, the ones that are most able to take advantage of new habitats even very harsh ones.”

Rethink weeds, those persistent plants that can establish themselves and thrive in places where humans hadn’t planned. While they might be thought of as a nuisance, plants like ivy-leaved toadflax and thistles are “pioneers, the ones that are most able to take advantage of new habitats, even very harsh ones.”

plants growing in a wall
persistent thistle
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