Edit: The weed lobby is alive and well in the comments! Just kidding. Appreciate the responses.
But my question still sort of stands. Take away the pejorative label “weed”—what allows these plants to perform better than the other ones?
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Plants that one cultivates have been bred (selected) for other desirable traits, such as how beautiful they are to humans or for how delicious of fruit they produce.
Weeds have been naturally selected for the environment in which they live. Those that fail because it is too hot or cold, too wet or dry, too nutrient poor of soil, can’t attract pollinators, etc. die and don’t pass on their genes and also leave room for the better survivors.
Also, a lot of traits that humans like in plants are not great for the plant’s health. Big or sweet fruits take a lot of water and energy to make. Unusual and decorative flowers are sometimes harder to recognize or access by the local pollinators and require human assistance, etc.
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