![]() Knowing a weed’s plant family is important, as many economically important crops have weedy relatives in the same family, which may harbor insect pests or pathogens of the crop, or in some cases cross-breed with the crop itself. Some of the better-known plant families in agriculture include the grass family (including cereal grains, corn, sorghum, millets, and pasture grasses) the legume family (including peas, beans, clovers, and alfalfa) the brassica family (including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, and mustards) and the nightshade family (including tomato, potato, pepper, and eggplant). The next larger grouping above genus is family. ![]() frumentacea), a useful grain and cover crop, is a subspecies of barnyard grass ( Echinocloa crus-galli), the world’s third worst weed! Plant Families For example, Japanese millet ( Echinocloa crus-galli ssp. Subspecies can cross-breed, a fact that is important to understand. Subspecies may evolve naturally as a species adapts to different environments (as many weeds do), or may be developed through plant breeding (e.g., cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, collards, and kale are all subspecies of Brassica oleracea). Some plant species have distinct variants called subspecies, for which the Latin name has three words. Latin names are usually in two words, denoting the genus (e.g., Amaranthus) and the species (e.g., retroflexus). ![]() A genus (plural genera) is a group of closely related species that share many characteristics of appearance, growth habit, and genetic makeup. In order to minimize such confusion, weed scientists have adopted official common names, such as common lambsquarters for the species Chenopodium album, and redroot pigweed for Amaranthus retroflexus.īotanists position each plant species in the enormous family tree of the plant kingdom, which illustrates current best estimates of each species’ genetic and evolutionary relationships with other plant species. Some common names have been attached to two different weeds for example, lambsquarters has also been called pigweed in some regions, and the term witchgrass has been applied both to the perennial quack grass and to an annual weed closely related to fall panicum. For example, common lambsquarters is also called fat-hen or white goosefoot. A given weed might have two or more common names. They are also less descriptive and a little harder to pronounce, especially for those of us who did not take Latin in school.Ĭommon names are more user-friendly but less precise. Scientific names are more precise, as each species has just one valid scientific name at any one time. What’s in a Name?Ī plant’s species name can be spelled out in Latin (its scientific name, e.g., Amaranthus retroflexus) or in plain English (its common name, e.g., redroot pigweed). Two weed species can look very similar at certain growth stages, yet differ greatly in life cycle, modes of reproduction, effects on crops, and responses to control tactics. However, correctly identifying major weeds can be an important first step toward effective control. ![]() Identifying all the weeds on a farm is not easy, and it is usually not necessary. Following are some tools and techniques for identifying the weed species in your fields. Mark Schonbeck, Virginia Association of Biological Farming IntroductionĮvery kind of weed has an identity-its species.
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