A contributor for Gothamist was just wandering around Union Square Park the other day when she spotted a plant with serrated leaves and that distinct, "skunk" smell that hippies know and love.

She was on the right track, according to two expert dope fiends, including an editor at High Times -- the plant is indeed marijuana, growing right under the noses of John Q. Law, or whoever is in charge of New York's po-po these days.

Others have speculated that it is the Cleome hassleriana, aka the spider plant, which cross-eyed beatniks and potheads often mistake for the wacky weed. (Have we sufficiently hit our quota for pot references? Great, let's move on.)

Union Square doesn't seem like the wisest choice for the site of a drug-growing operation, but maybe it's the very unlikelihood that led someone to drop a bud in there and see what happened. Not that we're advocating smoking marijuana, but we did think of five superior locations ... purely on speculation, of course. Keep reading for the list.

Madison Square Park
Why Madison Square Park and not, say, the Great Lawn in Central Park? (Well, that's easy -- because some hot chick sunning herself would crush it and then say in a snooty voice, "Uh, you mean you have to grow it first? That's so passe.") Two words: Shake Shack. Danny Meyer's munchie haven is most famous around our house because our uncle flew to New York to stand in line there for three hours for a burger -- and said, "It was worth it." That's the kind of place we want to have close by when we need serious eats.

Liberty Island
If anyone ever busts you for growing weed at the foot of the Statue of Liberty, you can turn it into a massive protest about how your "liberties" were taken away when you tried to grow "good ol' American ganj." If anything, the fund-raiser will be the jam.

Your CSA Rooftop Garden
No one would expect a bunch of hippies to grow weed in a garden? Right? Right?

Staten Island
No one ever goes there anyway, so they would never think to look there for an illegal drug field.

Our Backyards
We're not advocating for the implementation of marijuana (some of us -- gasp! -- do not possess such yardage), but if someone were to simply grow it back there, not tell us, and then allow us to ... never mind. We've already said too much. Let's just pretend this conversation never happened.