A notorious weed grows 0.2 m a day, farmers cannot get rid of it, yet some people make a fortune from it
In our country there is a notorious wild grass; it is an invasive alien species. After invading southern China, because it had no natural enemies, it multiplied rapidly and seized large areas of land, causing enormous harm. This wild grass is "Mikania micrantha," known as the "plant killer." Wherever it goes, it can be said that not a blade of grass survives. Farmers are helpless against it, because it grows back after being cut, and it is extremely hard to eradicate completely.
In fact, it is also a vicious weed abroad. Its English name translates as: the grass that grows a mile a minute. Though that is an exaggeration, its growth rate really is astonishing. Scientific research shows that Mikania micrantha can grow 0.2 m in a single day, all its nodes grow extremely fast, and in a year all its nodes combined can grow more than 1000 m in length, making it extremely destructive. Because Mikania micrantha is a climbing vine, it can entwine trees below 8 m, and its dense leaves block sunlight, preventing the trees from carrying out photosynthesis, so they finally weaken and die.
Even more formidable is the super-strong vitality of Mikania micrantha: every stem node can grow roots, and it grows roots at any time, enabling asexual reproduction. From flowering to fruit maturity, Mikania micrantha needs only 10 days to complete the process. Its seeds are very tiny and can spread by wind, water flow, insects and humans, with a very high germination rate. Therefore Mikania micrantha can spread rapidly in our country, bringing serious consequences to the ecological environment. In Guangdong and Yunnan in our country, many people's orchards and urban forest parks have been taken over by Mikania micrantha, causing many trees to die and fruit growers' yields to fall, which is a terrible headache.
People have tried many methods to deal with Mikania micrantha, such as using the parasitic plant dodder to fight it. But dodder's growing season is only spring and summer. During that period Mikania micrantha indeed disappears, but after the dodder withers, Mikania micrantha turns the tables, its underground roots grow again, and it absorbs the dodder's nutrients for its own use, so this method is not viable. Spraying pesticides works well, but it pollutes the environment and is not eco-friendly. It can be said that farmers can only pull it out by hand; there is simply no way to deal with it.
But Mikania micrantha is not harmful in every way. Its flowers are an excellent nectar source, and beekeepers follow its flowering season to keep bees. This honey is very delicious and also hard to obtain, and it sells for a high price on the market. Some people have made a fortune from it, which is quite surprising. It seems many organisms have a reason to exist; it just depends on how you make use of them.