20 Nebraskaland • August-September 2023
e've all been there. You're in the middle of a
perfectly pleasant walk through a woodland,
wetland or prairie and you glance down to fi nd
your pant legs covered with sticky seeds.
"Well, dadgum," you exclaim, "would you look at that
incredible seed dispersal adaptation!"
"Golly," you continue, "those little hooked spines sure are
eff ective at catching onto my pants. Ha! They're on my socks,
as well! I bet they work pretty great on dogs, too. Bowzer,
come! Yep, look at that, they work spectacularly well on
dogs!"
"Hey, Frank," you call to your friend, "come over here
and check out how sticky these little seeds are. It's going
to take me hours to get them all off my clothes. Aren't they
amazing?"
It's hard not to admire the way some plants have fi gured
out how to move their seeds around the world. Sure, it adds
a few hours of work to your outdoor adventure, but when
you put things in perspective, it's a small price to pay for an
intimate look at a natural wonder, right? Besides, what were
you going to do with all that time, anyway?
There's a good reason those seeds are so profi cient at
adhering to your socks. It's part of a broader strategy for
reproduction and territory expansion. When you brush up
against a plant and come away with a scad of little marvels
clinging to you, that plant is handing you responsibility for
transporting its children to a new and safe location. I hope
you take that responsibility seriously.
Plants create and release seeds as a way to help their
Story and photos by Chris Helzer
Illustrations by Tim Reigert
W
Stickseeds (Hackelia sp) and foxtail (Setaria sp) on
pants.
The Things That
Stick to Us
A celebration of the ways seeds
transport themselves around the
world and onto our pants and pets.
