12 Backyard Plants Worth More Than Gold You Keep Pulling Out

In 1927, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone pooled their money to find a plant that could make rubber on American soil. Edison's team tested more than 17,000 plants, and the winner was goldenrod, the weed that grows along fence lines across the country. Over the following years, Edison bred a variety that yielded close to 12% rubber. Then Edison died in 1931, the company was dissolved in 1936, and goldenrod went back to being a weed. The plants were never worthless. Nobody was looking at them. Your grandparents knew these plants as the first green things of spring. Somewhere along the way, we started calling them weeds and spraying them. Today I want to show you 12 plants that grow in yards, Hedgerows and lawns across America, the ones many people spend money and weekends removing. By worth I don't mean literal gold, I mean what people have paid for products made from them, what armies and governments depended on them for, and what researchers have found inside them. Number five is the plant behind an invention you have probably used this week, and number one has a close cousin that the United States government once planted on purpose, in fields While the plant itself is one many homeowners spray every spring. Two honest things before we start. First, never eat a plant you cannot identify with complete certainty. Learn it from a local expert or a trusted field guide, and harvest only from places that have not been sprayed, away from roadsides, and away from where dogs go. Second, these are foods and traditions, not medicine. Where research exists, I will tell you how small or early it is. And if you take blood thinners, blood pressure medicine, or diuretics, I will flag where it matters, and you should check with your doctor before adding any of these. I have counted these down by how surprising each one is, so stay with me until number one, because that is where the story from the beginning comes back. 12 plants. Let's begin. Number 12. Japanese knotweed. What is actually inside a resveratrol capsule? For many supplements, the answer is a weed that people across much of the United States spend years trying to get rid of. Japanese knotweed, with its bamboo-like stems and wide, flat leaves, is one of the richest plant sources of resveratrol, the compound made famous by red wine. In 2014, researchers in Berlin, led by Veronica Witte, gave 46 overweight adults between 50 and 75 either a daily resveratrol supplement or a placebo for 26 weeks. The resveratrol group remembered more words after 30 minutes, and brain scans showed stronger connections in the hippocampus, a region tied to memory. It was a small pilot study using a supplement, not the plant. And a later trial from the same research group, published in 2018, did not find a significant memory improvement in healthy older adults after six months. So the honest summary is promising, but unsettled. Here is the part that matters in your yard. Knotweed is invasive, and the edible part is the young spring shoot. How to use it? Knotweed stands are often sprayed with herbicide, so only harvest where you know they have not been. Take shoots under about a foot tall, peel them, and cook them the way you would cook rhubarb, because the raw stalks are tart and high in oxalates. Serve them with yogurt, since the calcium binds some of the oxalates in your gut. If you have a history of kidney stones, ask your doctor first. Never transplant it or compost the cuttings, because a small piece of stem can regrow, so dispose of them the way your local rules say. In Japan, the young shoots, called itadori, are a traditional spring vegetable. Number 11, Chicory. In 1806, Napoleon closed Europe's ports to British trade, and Britain's navy cut off much of the coffee coming into France. The French did what people do. They dug up a blue-flowered roadside weed, roasted the root, and drank it. Chicory coffee was born, and it outlasted the blockade. New Orleans still brews it. The root is rich in inulin, a fiber that feeds bacteria in the gut. A 2017 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition by Antya Mika and colleagues, gave chicory-derived inulin to adults with constipation. Researchers reported more frequent and softer stools than with placebo. The inulin was a purified fiber product, not a cup of roasted root, so the results may not carry over directly. Still, digestion often slows after 60, and a fiber that grows beside the road is worth knowing about. How to use it. Dig the root in fall, scrub it, chop it, and roast it until dark brown and brittle, then grind it. Start with a small amount mixed into your coffee, because inulin can cause gas, and drink plenty of water, because fiber works best with fluid. The young leaves can be eaten as a bitter green, and soaking them in cold water softens the bite. If you are allergic to ragweed, be careful, because chicory is in the same plant family. French households stretched their coffee this way for generations. Number 10. Mint Everyone who has ever planted mint has the same story. One small pot, and two summers later it is under the fence, through the lawn, and into the neighbor's yard. So they pull it out, and it comes back. The Greeks had a myth for that stubbornness. In the story, the nymph Minthe was transformed into the plant. And it has been fragrant ever since. In 2018, researchers published a trial in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 90 adults aged 50 to 70 with age-associated memory impairment took either a spearmint extract or a placebo for 90 days. At the higher amount, the quality of working memory improved by about 15% compared with placebo, and people reported falling asleep more easily. The company that makes the extract funded the study, and it used a concentrated extract, not tea. So consider it early. How to use it? Steep a handful of fresh spearmint leaves in hot water for about 10 minutes, with the cup covered so the aromatic oils stay in. Mint can relax the valve between the stomach and the throat, so if you have reflux, go lightly. Keep it in a pot or a bucket, because that is the only way to keep it from taking over. The Greeks scented their tables with it long before anyone drank it as tea. 9. Lambs' Quarters In 1950, men cutting peat in a Danish bog found what looked like a recent murder victim. He was not. He had lived in the 4th century BC, and the bog had preserved him for more than 2000 years. Today he is known as Tollund Man. When a botanist named Hans Hellback examined his last meal, he found a porridge of barley, flax, and the seeds of wild weeds, including lamb's quarters, which the British call fat hen. That plant was food long before it was a nuisance. According to USDA food composition data, the leaves hold a few hundred milligrams of calcium per hundred grams, more than whole milk by weight, along with vitamin C, vitamin K, and vitamin A. Like spinach, it also contains oxalates, which bind calcium, so your body absorbs less than the number suggests. For people over 60 who are often told to think about bone health, a free green with calcium and vitamin K is worth a second look. If you take warfarin, keep your intake steady and tell your doctor how to use it. Pick the tender tops before the plant flowers and wash them well. Steam or sauté them like spinach, because cooking reduces oxalates. Serve them with eggs, because vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium. Iron Age Danes ate it in porridge, and an omelette is a good place to start. Number 8. Elderberry A small bottle of elderberry syrup can be one of the more expensive things on the cold and flu shelf. The shrub it comes from grows in ditches and along fence lines, and most people cut it down as a weed. In 1995, Israeli researchers led by Dr. Zichria Zakai-Ronz reported that an elderberry extract reduced symptoms during an outbreak of influenza B. Then a 2019 meta-analysis in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine pooled four randomized trials with a total of 180 participants. It found that elderberry supplements shortened the duration of upper respiratory symptoms. The trials were small and used commercial products, so researchers call for larger studies. Even then, nobody is claiming it replaces a flu shot or a visit to your doctor. Here is the safety note, and it matters. Raw elderberries, and the stems, leaves and bark, contain compounds that can make you sick. Elderberries must always be cooked. How to use it? Pick only fully ripe dark blue-black berries and strip every berry from its stem. Simmer them with water until soft, then strain. Do not use red elderberries, which are more toxic. If you take medicines that suppress the immune system, ask your doctor first. European hedgerow cooks have simmered elderberries into cordials for centuries. Number 7. Stinging nettle. 620 men. That is how many took part in a six-month trial published in 2005 in the Journal of Herbal Pharmacotherapy by Dr. Mohammad Reza Safarinijad in Tehran. It tested stinging nettle root extract for urinary symptoms linked to an enlarged prostate. The symptom score fell from nearly 20 to nearly 12 in the nettle group and barely moved in the placebo group. Two cautions. That was a root extract, not the leaves you would cook, and it was a single trial. Anyone with urinary symptoms needs a doctor to look for other causes. The leaves have their own history. During World War I, when Germany was cut off from cotton, the army made uniforms from a blend that included nettle fiber, and civilians were urged to harvest it. How to use it? Wear gloves, and pick only the top four leaves in early spring, before the plant flowers. Boil them for a couple of minutes, which removes the sting, then use them like spinach. Add lemon juice, because vitamin C helps your body absorb the iron in the leaves. If you take blood pressure medicine, diuretics or blood thinners, check with your doctor first. Across Europe, nettle soup was the first green of spring. Number 6. Broadleaf Plantain The most trampled plant in America has a famous cousin in your pharmacy. Broadleaf plantain is the flat rosette in the cracks of your driveway. It is not the banana-like fruit. Its relative Plantago ovata produces the seed husks, known as psyllium, the main ingredient in Metamucil. In 1998, the FDA authorized a health claim linking the soluble fiber in psyllium husk to heart health. That was the cousin, not your lawn plantain, and I want to be clear about that. Fiber matters for digestion after 60, and the kind people buy comes from the relative, not the plant at the edge of your driveway. The leaves themselves have mostly been studied in the lab. A review published in 2000 in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology by Anne Barrett Samuelson cataloged the traditional uses and compounds of Plantago major and noted that human trials are limited. By tradition, it followed European settlers across North America, and Native Americans are said to have called it white man's foot. How to use it? Choose young, small leaves, because the older ones are stringy. Chop them fine. Then sauté them with olive oil and add them to soups or eggs. Folk tradition also crushed a fresh leaf onto an insect bite, though evidence for that is limited. For generations, it grew right where people walked, and they used it. Number 5. Burdock In 1941, a Swiss engineer named George de Mestral came home from a walk in the Alps with his dog, and both were covered in burrs. Most people would have swept them off. De Mestral put one under a microscope and saw hundreds of tiny hooks. After years of work, he received a patent in 1955 for a hook-and-loop fastener he called Velcro. The plant that gave him the idea was burdock. Its first-year root, known in Japan as gobo, has been eaten for centuries. A 2011 review in Inflammo-Pharmacology by Yuk Shing Chan and colleagues. Summarize the laboratory research on burdock's compounds. Most of it was done in cells and animals, so the human evidence is limited. And some people react to burdock, so if you are sensitive to ragweed or daisies, be careful. A plant that sticks to your socks was inspiring inventors long before it reached your plate. How to use it. Harvest only first-year roots, and only from a plant you are certain about, because burdock roots have been mistaken for poisonous lookalikes. Scrub and scrape the root, slice it into thin matchsticks, and soak them in water with a splash of vinegar so they do not turn brown. Simmer with soy sauce and sesame oil. Japanese cooks have made this dish, called kinpira gobo, for generations. Number 4. Rose hips. A wild rose hip holds far more vitamin C than an orange. weight for weight Britain's government knew it during World War II and asked schoolchildren to prove it. With citrus imports cut off, children went out to the hedgerows and picked tons of wild hips. They were paid by the pound, and the syrup made from them went on sale in chemist shops. The hips of the wild rose have also been studied for joint pain. A 2008 meta-analysis in Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, led by Robin Christensen, pooled three randomized trials of rose hip powder from Rosa canina with 287 people who had osteoarthritis. Pain scores were lower with rosehip than with placebo, but the manufacturer funded all three trials and the authors called for larger, independent studies. Osteoarthritis is common after 60, which is why the research gets attention. How to use it? Many foragers wait for the first frost, which makes the hips sweeter. Cut them open and scoop out the seeds and hairs, because the hairs irritate the mouth and skin. Simmer the hips gently and strain through cloth. The vitamin C helps your body absorb iron, so pair them with lentils or leafy greens. British children gathered them for the war effort, and their grandparents still remember the syrup. 3. Purslane Omega-3 is supposed to come from fish. Nobody told the weed growing between your garden rows. In 1986, Dr. Artemis Simopoulos and Dr. Norman Salem wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine about purslane as a land plant source of omega-3 fats. In 1992, Simopoulos and colleagues reported in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition that purslane leaves held more alpha-linolenic acid than spinach, roughly 300 to 400 mg per 100 g of fresh leaves, along with more vitamin E. I want to be straight with you. The amounts vary widely with variety and growing conditions, and plant omega-3 is not the same as the EPA and DHA in fish because the body converts only a small share. So think of purslane as a bonus, not a replacement for fish. It also contains oxalates, so if you are prone to kidney stones, ask your doctor. How to use it? Pick the juicy stems and leaves in summer and eat them raw in salads or lightly cooked. Dress them with olive oil, because the fat helps your body absorb the vitamin E and carotenoids. Mexican cooks call it verdolagas and simmer it with beans or pork. Greek families have served it in salads for generations. Number 2. Red Clover Red clover is more than a lawn weed. It is the state flower of Vermont, adopted in 1894, and once you know what is inside the blossom, you may think twice before mowing it. The blossoms contain isoflavones, plant compounds that act weakly like estrogen. In a 2004 trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers led by Charlotte Atkinson gave 205 women aged 49 to 65 either a red clover isoflavone supplement or a placebo for one year. Loss of bone density in the lumbar spine was lower in the supplement group, but there was no difference at the hip. The authors described it as a potentially protective effect in women at one site. That was a supplement, not tea. If you have a hormone-sensitive condition or take blood thinners, ask your doctor before using red clover. Bone health depends on calcium, vitamin D, and movement, far more than any single plant. And farmers have long planted clover because it feeds the soil. How to use it? Pick fully open blossoms on a dry morning, from a place that has not been sprayed, and dry them in the shade. Steep in hot water for about 10 minutes with the cup covered. The fresh blossoms are also edible in salads. Herbal tradition in Europe and America has long kept dried clover blossoms for tea. Number 1. Dandelion. The plant you spend the most money getting rid of has a cousin the United States government once planted on purpose. In 1942, with Japan controlling most of the world's natural rubber, the Department of Agriculture launched an emergency rubber project. One of the plants it grew in fields across the country was Russian dandelion, a close cousin of the lawn dandelion. Tires were made from it, and the project was wound down once the war ended. The common dandelion also makes latex, though in much smaller amounts. Now the greens. USDA data list raw dandelion greens with several hundred micrograms of vitamin K per 100 grams, many times what lettuce provides. In a 1999 analysis of the Nurses' Health Study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Diane Feskenich followed 72,327 women for 10 years. Women who ate a serving of lettuce, a vitamin K green, every day had about 45% lower risk of hip fracture than those who ate it once a week or less. A 2000 analysis of 888 Framingham participants, with an average age of 75, found a similar pattern. Both were observational, so they show a link, not cause and effect. If you take warfarin, keep your greens steady and tell your doctor how to use it. Pick young leaves before the plant flowers, and blanch them briefly to soften the bitterness. Toss them with olive oil, because vitamin K dissolves in fat. The roots can be roasted and ground like chicory. In many rural traditions, the first dandelion greens were the first fresh food of spring, And your grandparents may have picked them.