Is pig weed intelligent?
by Hugh Holub on Jul. 31, 2010, under tucson life and heritage
Baby pig weed plant
The monsoons have come. We’ve gotten over 5 inches rain at our place in Tubac so far. The surrounding mountains have turned green. Take a drive down I-19 an enjoy the monsoon lushness.
And the pig weed is exploding.
Every year the war with the pig weed is waged each summer. And the pig weed always wins.
Over the years I’ve come to believe that pig weed is an intelligent species.
The little baby plants pop up and I pull them.
A few days later the new plants are not growing straight up, but spreading laterally on the ground to avoid being pulled.
Normally, the pig weed will grow a certain amount before it goes to seed. They can actually reach 6 or 8 feet if left alone.
But during a relentless effort to yank them out of the ground, they go to seed quicker and quicker, as if anticipating the wrath of a weed whacker.
By the end of the monsoon the pig weed can be very tiny, yet still throw off seeds to survive to next year.
It is like whatever one tries to do to eradicate them, they adapt and escape.
Do you have weed war going on in your yard where the weeds are winning?
July 31st, 2010 on 10:32 am
not sure, but I can tell you that mongooses back home on the Big Island of Hawaii are intelligent too. I have seen them come out along the shoulder of the road, watch cars zoom by right and left, then retreat to safety. What has this got to do with pig weed? Nothing, except to tell you we have given up on the weeds in our back yard, as the Hawaiians have given up on eradicating mongoose. I guess it is all about “adaption and escape”, as you say.
July 31st, 2010 on 1:04 pm
Amaranthus xtucsonensis (Tucson pigweed) is an occasional summer annual that was only recently described from the Tucson Mountains in Arizona and the Río Mayo Region of southern Sonora. The type locality is Gates Pass in the Tucson Mountains. – source ASDM. It escaped notice of scientists for a long time – must be intelligent.