Plant pest or biological control

[Chris J. Durden]

Plant pest = a pest (noun) that is a plant (noun in adjectival apposition).
Insect pest = a pest that is an insect.
Pest = some organism that is noisome to people.
Weed = something that grows where it is not wanted by people.
Animal pest of man = a medically injurious animal.
Insect pest of plants = something APHIS should be concerned with.
Fungus pest of insects = a possible solution.
Plant pest of plants = an agressive weed among crops.
etc.

I wish our regulators would be careful with the language they put in
regulations. Seems that by no stretch of the imagination can the monarch
butterfly be considered a "plant pest" or even an "insect pest of plants".
..........Chris Durden

At 05:12  15/06/00 -0400, you wrote:
>There is clearly a distinction between a plant pest (presumably 
>something that attacks desirable plants) and a biologic control (the 
>same kind of creature attacking an undesirable plant).  Since Milkweeds 
>are desirable in butterfly gardens but not on lawns, where does that 
>leave the Monarch.  But are there any places where Monarchs are 
>sufficiently numerous to actually impact a milkweed clone  (or for that 
>matter a single milkweed plant)----not in my New Jersey yard at least. 
>
>M. Gochfeld
>
>