Diversity, Distribution, and Status of Weed Species of Northwest Himalaya

Abstract

Weed is defined as ‘a herbaceous plant not valued for use or beauty, growing wild and rank, and regarded as cumbering the ground or hindering the growth of superior vegetation’ (Zimdahl in Fundamentals of weed science. Academic Press, San Diego, C.A., p. 556 1999). Weeds are those plants which are harmful, interfere with the agricultural operations, increase labor, add input to the cultivation, and reduce the crop yield (Sen in Environment and agriculture: at the crossroad of the new millennium. Ecological Society (ECOS), Kathmandu, Nepal, pp. 223–233 2000). Weeds grow in a variety of ecosystems including pastures, rangelands, and forests.