Menacing ‘famine weed’ grows more toxic as carbon levels soar

Re:Menacing ‘famine weed’ grows more toxic as carbon levels ... by elzbardico on Sunday June 13, 2021 @12:24PM (#27493879)

Let me be more clear. The tone of the article and the menacing on the Title made me uncomfortable. I don't understand why we have to resort to fear instead of reason on important issues.

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Re:Menacing ‘famine weed’ grows more toxic as carbon levels ... by DanBC on Monday June 14, 2021 @01:52PM (#27505776)

It's an invasive species. It's called "famine weed" because it can cause a disastrous collapse in crops.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenium_hysterophorus

> It infests pastures and farmland, causing often disastrous loss of yield, as reflected in common names such as famine weed.

It aggressively colonises disturbed ground. It is one of the hundred most invasive species in the world. It causes huge losses in crop production.

https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/45573

> arthenium hysterophorus is an annual herb that aggressively colonizes disturbed sites. It is considered as one of the ‘100 most invasive species in the world’ by the IUCN

> In India, the yield losses are reported as up to 40% in several crops and a 90% reduction of forage production (Gnanavel, 2013). Parthenium hysterophorus is now being reported from India as a serious problem in cotton, groundnuts, potatoes and sorghum, as well as in more traditional crops such as okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), brinjal (Solanum melongena), chickpea and sesame (Kohli and Rani, 1994), and is also proving to be problematic in a range of orchard crops, including vineyards, olives, cashew, coconut, guava, mango and papaya (Tripathi et al., 1991; Mahadevappa, 1997; Gnanavel, 2013).

They are not fear mongering. This is a calm, evidence based, bit of research about a very worrying species.

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