Explanation:

For many readers, the name of this blog will be familiar. A plant out of place is among the most recognizable and commonly cited definitions of a weed, dating back to at least the 1860s.1 Although it is one of the most common definitions, I don’t particularly care for it. There are myriad examples of plants that we consider weeds that are very much in their place. Tall larkspur, for example, is a plant native to high elevation rangelands in the western United States. Larkspur is among the most common causes of cattle poisonings reported in these regions. Because of the high potential for livestock losses, we consider tall larkspur a weed in this setting, even though it is the cattle that are introduced to the area – it is the animal, not the plant, that is out of place.