Weeds in the Urban Landscape: Where They Come from, Why They're Here, and How to Live with Them

by Richard Orlando

Overview

A comprehensive identification guide to 189 common weeds in the urban environment, explaining their families and characteristics, with strategies for managing their presence in the garden and fields

This engaging field guide for the urban explorer, gardener, or armchair enthusiast traces the history of weeds as they migrated out of the Middle East with human tribes and spread across Europe and the Americas, details the folklore surrounding them, and explains their role in the evolution of agriculture and human civilizations as well as their many uses for medicine, food, animal fodder, and soil enhancement. Richard Orlando provides detailed descriptions of 189 common weeds—found across the U.S.—describing their families and characteristics, and suggesting strategies for managing their presence in the garden and field. Abundant illustrations enhance the text and facilitate plant identification. An annotated bibliography and index of botanical names, in addition to a detailed explanation of Integrated Pest Management, make this an essential reference for anyone with an interest in the world outside our doors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623172121
Publisher:	North Atlantic Books
Publication date:	05/22/2018
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	37 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

RICHARD ORLANDO worked for over twenty-five years as the lead gardener at UC Berkeley and has for nearly thirty years taught classes on weeds and gardening. He has led trainings for pesticide handlers and continues to offer consulting services as an arborist, in addition to continuing to teach.

Table of Contents

Preface: Why I Wrote This Book ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Tom Yutani Amy Yutani xvii

Part 1 The Background

1 What Is a Weed? 3

2 A Brief History of Weeds and Crop Plants 7

3 Important Weed Families 21

4 About Botanical and Common Names 39

Part 2 The Weeds

5 The "Classic" Weeds 45

6 The Green and Golden Hills of California 159

7 Other Invasive Grasses and Grasslike Plants 189

8 Other Broad-Leaved Weeds 209

9 Garden Escapees and Wild-Land Invaders 237

10 California Native Weeds 295

Part 3 Integrated Pest Management-With and Without Pesticides

11 Integrated Pest Management-an Overview 309

12 To Spray or Not to Spray; or, Pesticides 101 319

Conclusion 335

Glossary 337

Plant Parts 337

Medicinal Terms 341

Annotated Bibliography 343

List of Weeds by Botanical Name 353

List of Weeds by Common Name 357

Index 361

About the Author 371

Editorial Reviews

03/19/2018
Orlando, who worked in the grounds department at UC Berkeley for nearly 30 years, conceived of this deeply researched guide to weed identification and control while teaching an urban weeds course at a community college. Unable to find a suitable textbook for the course, he created this one, which identifies weed families, helps gardeners control weeds, and places weeds in historical and natural contexts. Weeds are not just unwanted, out-of-place plants, Orlando maintains: they “belong to a specific group of plants that follow us around, that are supremely well adapted to colonizing the bare, disturbed ground.” The bulk of the book profiles 189 weeds, with each profile including the identifying features of the plant, where it originated, as well as its nomenclature. Orlando also discusses the cultural history of each plant, including its use in folklore, songs, poetry, and recipes. For example, the entry on “tree of heaven,” which is native to China and believed to have been introduced to the United States by Chinese miners, notes the plant’s “cinematic claim to fame” in the film adaptation of Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The last section emphasizes integrated weed management. While the book is primarily a reference guide for controlling weeds, the historical context and cultural references add a holistic dimension that will appeal to general readers with an interest in botany. (May)

Publishers Weekly

“Weeds in the Urban Landscape not only serves its purpose in helping avid gardeners and horticulturalists identify weeds in their gardens, fields, and landscapes, it also blends plant identification with fascinating ethnobotany of numerous species, covering interesting facts about their uses, properties, and history. For those interested in learning the identity of weeds and more, this will be one of their go-to resources.”
 —Joe DiTomaso, noncrop weed specialist, University of California, Davis
 
“Weeds in the Urban Landscape is an enthusiastic, informed, and respectful look at the wild, tenacious plants we gardeners love to hate; a call to accept, and even appreciate, their essential role in a resilient, healthy environment.”
—Lorene Edwards Forkner, editor, Pacific Horticulture
 
“Richard Orlando combines his obvious knowledge of plants, an expansive view of botanical history, and just the right amount of humor to create this eminently readable treatise on urban weeds. The book should be on the shelf of any aspiring landscaper, gardener, or defender of ecosystems.”
—Chris Geiger, San Francisco Department of the Environment

From the Publisher