Earlier this week, as I was walking to class, I passed a worker pulling weeds in one of the many well-manicured flower beds here at Penn State. I recognized the plants he was pulling up as wood sorrel, a common native plant.  

The thing is, I’ve never considered wood sorrel to be a weed. I first found out about wood sorrel while working as a nature instructor at a summer camp in the woods. I learned how to differentiate it from clovers by looking for its heart-shaped leaves and yellow flowers, and that every part of the plant is edible (it has a slight lemon flavor), which could be useful in a survival situation. Some people even believe that it can be used to cure hangovers. So, I was a little shocked to see this versatile flower being treated as a weed. 

Weeds are the unwanted pests of the plant kingdom. They are considered nuisances because they grow in areas that are meant for other plants, competing with them and creating a visual disturbance in the garden. A common example would be the yellow dandelions that anger homeowners by cropping up in otherwise tidy suburban lawns every spring and fall.  

Now, consider things from the dandelion’s perspective. It has no concept that it is ruining a perfect lawn; it is just trying to grow in the most advantageous spot, which happens to be in this patch of conveniently short grass. The wood sorrel is in a very similar position. It poses no threat to the surrounding plants, and as a native species, is actually beneficial to the local ecosystem. The only reason to forcibly remove it is to make the flower bed a look a little bit neater.  

What we choose define as weeds is highly subjective, and very much relies on the context of the situation. While the gardener saw the wood sorrel as just another weed to pull, I recognized it as a edible native plant with a variety of uses and a place in the local biosphere. Regardless of whether we call it a weed or a decorative shrub, each plant is ultimately just doing its best to survive like all the rest of us.