Friday, April 10, 2009

Sticky Jack







Came in from weeding in the garden with bits of goosegrass Galium aparine stuck to my clothes. We used to call it 'sticky Jack' when we were kids, and lobbed handfuls of the stuff at each other on the way home from school. It's the covering of tiny hooked hairs all over the plant that act like Velco, fixing it to fabrics. The hairs on the stem are shortish and curved, but those on the leaves are like fish hooks - when you look at them under the microscope.

6 comments:

  1. Interesting to see close up how this rampant weed manages to cling to almost everything. It is the bane of my life in the garden!

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  2. I made the mistake a few years ago of letting some run to seed,then carried these all over the garden on my clothes. I've been paying the price ever since!

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  3. I love coincidences. My daughter got some of this stuck on her sock the other day and asked me how it managed to cling on. I had just looked at your blog the day before so was able to show her the hooks and now she's hooked - to the micro world - so keep on posting please.

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  4. Thanks Nyctalus. I remember when my kids first looked down a microscope and were amazed at what they found. It's remarkable how quickly kids make connectiosn too - when I showed the hooks on the sticky Jack to a group of children from primary school a while ago one of them immediately made the connection with the Velcro fastening on his shoe - someone must have told him how that worked.

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  5. I had some clinging to my clothes this morning.

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  6. I find it's seeds are incredibly good at attaching themselves to clothing, Toffeeapple.If imagine they're just as adept at sticking to fur and feathers.

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