Learning about life from botany!
Plant Survival Guidelines Analyzed Through Business Strategy
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Why Botany Matters Now: Plant Life is Hard, Too

When you think of plants, you might think of them living their entire lives quietly in one place.
But just because it seems like you're not moving doesn't mean you're living peacefully.
Plants are also struggling with all their might to survive in the vast natural world.
They must survive against herbivores, endure natural disasters like floods, droughts, and earthquakes, and deal with all the problems brought about by humans.
There is also fierce competition among plants.
It is a fight to secure a good environment with light, water, and fertile soil.
In that respect, humans and plants are not very different.
Everyone is doing their best to survive in an uncertain future.

Especially in the natural world where the law of survival of the fittest is strictly applied, plants use all means possible to survive.
Moreover, weak and small 'grass' requires various strategies.
Small grasses, commonly called 'weeds', are less competitive than trees with strong roots and lush leaves.
If you live in the shade of a tree, you won't be able to photosynthesize properly because you won't get enough sunlight, and your roots will be too thin and weak to absorb nutrients from the soil.
However, weeds have survived for millions of years and are still commonly found around us today.
How did weeds survive for so long? What survival strategies do these fragile plants employ?

Botanist Hidehiro Inagaki examines the tenacity of small grasses and seeks to find clues to surviving in uncertain times that change every day.

The larger the plant, the better.
Because they need sunlight to photosynthesize, they need to be taller than the surrounding plants to receive more light from a higher position.
Being big means being competitive.
They cannot photosynthesize sufficiently under the shade of other plants.
So the plants competed to grow taller.
They competed with each other and rose higher and higher.
--- p.17

Then the era of competition based on size came to an end.
As the dinosaurs' in-laws were dying out, an incredible and unimaginable transformation took place in the plant world.
That's where 'pool' comes in.
The grass did not grow tall, but bloomed close to the ground.
The innovative entity called Pool completely overturned the previous value of bigger being better.
A new era has begun.
--- p.
19

We generally think of weeds as tough and strong, but in fact, weeds can be classified as 'weak plants'.
Weak here means weak in competition.
Weeds are weak plants.
There is no chance of survival in a head-on confrontation.
So, we chose a place where unpredictable changes occur and there is no need for competitiveness.
Choosing a place where there is no competition because the weeds are weak means, in other words, choosing a method that competes based on the ability to respond to change.
--- p.55

It is not true that weeds grow anywhere.
There are few creatures that choose their habitats according to their own strengths as much as weeds.
Of course, plants cannot move, so it is misleading to say that they choose their own location.
Plants spread as many seeds as possible to produce many sprouts.
Only those individuals who are fortunate enough to grow up in a place where they can utilize their strengths can grow properly.

--- p.75

Even if weeds are trampled and trampled, they rise again.
Don't you have this impression of weeds? Unfortunately, this is a misconception.
If you get stepped on once or twice, you might get up.
But if stepped on several times, even weeds cannot rise again.
Rather, the key strategy for weeds is to ‘not rise even when stepped on.’
Even though it was hard, I gritted my teeth and worked hard like a weed, so I might be disappointed by these unexpected words.
But is it really something to be disappointed about? From a botanist's perspective, the "weed's strategy of not rising" is truly a magnificent aspect.
If you think about it objectively, there is no reason for the weeds to rise again.
What is important for plants is to bloom and leave seeds.
There's no need to waste energy on getting back up even if you get stepped on.
--- p.101

The basic strategy of weeds is 'number of seeds'.
However, because the environment in which each weed lives is different, even within the same type of weed, some produce relatively large seeds while others produce smaller seeds.
This means that the size of the seeds changes depending on the conditions.
A representative example is the Korean knotweed.
The Korean dandelion is divided into the 'field type' that grows in fields and the 'rice paddy type' that grows in rice paddies.
Even though it is the same plant, the size of the seeds varies depending on the habitat.
The field type chose a strategy that produces many small seeds.
The conditions for cultivation are the same for both rice paddies and dry fields, but the cultivation period for rice paddies is set to spring every year.
On the other hand, the cultivation period for fields varies depending on the vegetables or crops grown.
It may be done several times a year.
In other words, compared to rice paddies, fields are environments with greater disturbance.
So, in the field, it is advantageous to produce many small seeds.

--- p.141

Weeds may seem small and insignificant compared to large, sturdy trees that live for hundreds of years.
But in nature, the strong do not always win.
Sometimes, rather than competing with force, a strategy of receiving force is needed.
It is about using adversity and change as opportunities to survive with your own strengths.

--- p.205