Weed of the Week

 We've planted two native short-growing grasses around all our buildings here at Prairie Hill. They are deep-rooted, allowing rain to soak deep without running off, and once these grasses get well-established, they don't need to be mowed often. Since we don't use herbicides here, we have been holding weeding parties for the past 6 or 7 years while these native grasses are getting established. And we're learning about all the weeds that try to find a home on our lawns. Weeds, by definition, are plants that you don't want. And it's easy to think of them negatively: bad plants! I resist that. My feeling is that all plants are here for a purpose and they all have worth. That doesn't mean I don't pull them out of the native grasses, but I do it with respect.  I'm curious about these unwanted plants, so I've done some research on all the weeds we're finding here. This time I've chosen to write about one that is getting more prevalent at Prairie Hill. Next week I'll choose another one to feature.

Japanese Hops

(Humulus japonicus)

Japanese Hops vines have left their mark on my hands this week as I've been pulling them without gloves, leaving little cuts all over my fingers.  The plant is native to Asia, but was brought to this country intentionally in the late 1800's for its use as an ornamental as well as an Asian tonic. For years it was mostly found in the eastern states, but it is gradually moving into the Midwest, and most of the information written about it has to do with how to get rid of it! It has proven to be exceptionally invasive in this country, and in some states it is expressly prohibited! You cannot legally plant it.  Asian Hops is closely related to the hops used in beer-making, and evidently also related to cannabis.  The plant is very quick growing, with the vines covering neighboring foliage and potentially smothering native plants. It is an annual, spread by seeds contained in cone-like green little packages. The plants like full or partial sun, and both the stems and the leaves are covered with sharp hairs. One vine can grow up to 35 feet in one year!

But there must be something good about this plant, I thought. It is nice-looking, so I can see why it was wanted for an ornamental until it was discovered to be so invasive. But what else? And then I found some sites that talked about its medicinal qualities. Although one site indicated that some people are allergic to the pollen from Japanese Hops, a couple other sites cited the pollen as being a strong medicine. You can make a tea or tincture with the seed cones. This is used for anxiety, tension, insomnia, pain, digestion, and as an anti-viral and anti-bacterial tonic. Pretty impressive! It was good to find out about people who treasure this plant instead of hating it! And also good to get acquainted with yet another healing plant. My intent is to pull up the Japanese Hops vines here at Prairie Hill  before they make their cones, but I will inevitably miss some. When I see some that have produced their cones, I'll harvest them and will have a new plant medicine to experiment with. So much for this first weed of the week. Stay tuned for more!