Tag Alongs

Now, I'm not referring about those delicious Girl Scout cookies! I'm thinking of all the seeds that hitch a ride on our clothing or on our pet's fur when walking through or near a field in the fall.

I noticed the burs (pictured here) on my daily walk last week and stopped to take a closer look. They have tiny hooks on the tip of each seed that attaches to clothes and animal fur like velcro.

There are so many ways for seeds to be dispersed from their parent plant. Tagging along with an animal is one of them. Some seeds may travel for miles this way. I know I have walked a ways before realizing I had seeds attached to me and then picked them off, depositing them wherever I happened to be at the time.

Growing up in Florida, we would have to be careful running around outside in the grass, because the grass seeds would jab into your feet. We called them sand spurs. They had thorns instead of hooks. This may be a good strategy for the plant, but it is a bit of a bother and can be painful for the animal that carries them!