Plants considered to be 'weedy' may have the following characteristics:
- Rapid growth
- Are able to produce large amounts of seeds in a short amount of time
- Colonize disturbed areas rapidly (burns, roadsides, building sites)
- Compete effectively for resources (soil moisture, sunlight, nutrients)
- Have floral characteristics that are particularly favorable to pollinating
insects (nutritious pollen, very sweet nectar, bright colors)
- Have seeds that can be dispersed in a wide variety of methods (wind dispersed,
have physiological characteristics that enable them to stick easily to fur
and clothing, have seeds that are irregularly round, and are expelled forcibly
from pods and then roll downhill chaotically due to their irregular shapes)
- Have root systems that are prolific, tenacious and rhizomatous (able to
reproduce through new sprouts from their root system)
- Are tolerant to a wide variety of soil types
- Are tolerant to a wide variety of climatic conditions
- Are able to sprout first in the spring and rob the area of valuable moisture
and nutrients for native plants that sprout later
- Tend to be branching with broad-leaves, enabling them to crowd out or shade
out plants growing adjacent to or underneath them