What in the world is a "weed-like" plant?

While driving around American Valley this first week of August, one sees several different tall roadside plants with yellow blossoms. With not very good distance vision, I'm finding it fun to try to identify them while driving based on subtle clues. I'm seeing lots of Star Thistle, which most people consider to be a weed. Weed in the sense that it is non-native and invasive. That latter term I take to mean "grows where you don't want it to." It's in the same genus, Centaurea, as its more popular cousin Bachelors Buttons. Another common yellow blossom is St. Johns Wort. When it grows along the roadsides among weeds, it is often considered to be a weed. However, it's a native plant and allegedly has important medicinal properties. To many people it is definitely not a weed. Next, especially in the wetter spots by the roadsides, is Goldenrod of which there are several native species. My dad considered it to be a weed simply because it made him sneeze and get runny eyes. Last, the featured plant for this post, the Gum Plant, Grindelia nana. This is a native plant west of the Rockies and is most often seen by the roadsides. For that reason alone many would call it a weed. However, it is a native, and, I believe, quite beautiful. It also attracts a variety of interesting bugs including the Goldenrod Crab Spider. The Wikipedia article on it calls it a "weed-like" plant. I find that amusing. Either it's a weed, or it's not. And, it's NOT. Anyway, it bears close inspection. I found a great patch of it under the sign in front of Golden Dragon restaurant. It produces an attractive, yellow, daisy-like blossom, but, before that, the buds are surrounded by dense, re-curved bracts that remind me of some sort of elegant fishing lure. The buds each have a white pile of gunk that resembles a wad of gum - hence the name. The whole plant tends to look a bit wet and sticky, and this is actually an attractive feature when the surroundings are bone dry and most weeds have gone to seed and dried out. If you see a patch of gum plant in the next couple of weeks, it's worth a visit for close inspection and the chance that interesting butterflies, beetles, spiders, and other critters are visiting.