Take a walk outdoors at this time of year and you’re likely to come home with some of these stuck to your clothing.
These tiny burs are the seed pods of agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria), a plant native to Europe that was brought to North America for its herbal properties. (See Mark’s comment below! This species doesn’t occur locally but we have similar natives.)
Though the burs look wicked in this close up, they’re actually small and rather weak. Compared to burdock they’re only slightly aggravating.
Click here for a view of a local species (Agrimonia parviflora) when it’s flowering — photos I took at Jennings Prairie last year.
(photo produced using focus stacking, Museum of Toulose, from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original)
That’s one that commonly gets me, usually my socks. Good picture. Enjoying your blog, a good comparison with things a little further north here just south of Georgian Bay. And I frequently learn something new!
Taught my young nephews the joy of burdock battle. We itched all day! Those little hooks don’t come away with the rest of the pod. forgot about that.
I have not seen this species in our area. I will have to take a closer look.
There are five native species in PA too. See this link for the distribution of Agrimonia species in PA: http://www.paflora.org/.
Another plant with really kind of annoying, sticky fruits is Hackelia virginiana.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackelia_virginiana
Mark, thanks for the clarification! The seeds looked like the agrimony I’m used to but the photo is from France. I should have known!