That arundo is tough stuff

Twelve years ago I used this lede on a story about California's meanest weed: "What is three feet tall, armed with sharp needles, loiters in the grass and kills a dozen or more horses in California every year?" The pest then was yellow star thistle. Today, Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News has a story about arundo, the reed-like plant killing off local species. "It's our No. 1 most-hated weed," said Ray Smith, chief of the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner's Weed Hazard and Pest Bureau."