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From Wanted To Weeds: A Natural History Of Some Of New England’S Introduced Plants, Jessamy R. Luthin

Maine History

When the Europeans first colonized New England they initiated the process of transforming the landscape into something more familiar. In order to ensure access to food and medicine and recreate the pastoral landscape of the Old World they brought with them a variety of known plant species for cultivation. With time, shifts in medical practice, agriculture, food preservation, and dietary preferences, reliance on these plants declined. As knowledge of these plant species disappeared from popular consciousness, so too did they disappear into the wilds of America, exploiting new found ecological niches, and becoming New England’s naturalized flora. Human labor was …