In a few weeks this plant will be very aggravating. Those tiny green balls are solidly attached to the stems right now but soon they’ll dry out and grab onto your clothes and your dog if you brush past the plant. They’re the fruits of Virginia stickseed (Hackelia virginiana).
Virginia stickseed is so inconspicuous in bloom that we barely notice it at this stage.
The flowers are tiny …
When fertilized they become small burs made of four nutlets facing each other. The outer surface is like velcro.
To give you an idea of their size, I pulled some fruits off the stem. It was hard to detach them because they haven’t dried out yet in early August.
Just wait until they turn brown!
p.s. There’s another less common native plant called small flowered agrimony with a similar fruit. Read more about it in this vintage blog: Slightly Aggravating.
(flowering plant photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the caption to see the original. All other photos by Kate St. John)
Nice pics of stickseed. I was trying to identify this weed, which really sticks to my dogs ears, and found your photos. Not many good shots around the web but your post is perfect. Have a great rest of summer.
Thank you for providing good pictures and identification of this weed. It just started showing up in a park near my house in St. Louis, MIssouri. Wrecks havoc on my Golden Retrievers. Now the burrs are green, but they will be murder when they dry out.
Thank you for the great photos. I have this weed in my yard (in Manitoba) for the first time this year and had no idea what it was. When I was removing it, the tiny burs stuck to my gloves and clothing. It made my skin itchy. I had no idea I was itchy from the plant and kept rubbing my neck. Then the skin had huge red welts and the next morning the welts were burns. It was like a chemical burn. The ‘welts’ dried up and got rough and then scraped off.
It looks like the plant that captured a Chickadee in my yard yesterday 10-4-20. The plant seemed to be attracting these birds but most got away, except for this one. Watching from my window it looked like it was hanging upside down. I went to see what it was tangled in and found it covered with the sticky seeds and vines of this plant. I did my best to pull off the plant (holding the bird in a piece of cloth) after I cut off what I could. It finally was able to fly away. I wish I new an easier way to get the burrs out of the feathers. I did pull out the bush and will be on the lookout for more to burn this fall.
I came across a golden crowned kinglet 12/26/20 that was captured by Hackilea Virginiana. It may have been captive when the mature seeds were still green. The bird was dehydrated. McDonald FP Lake Co Illinois
Poor bird!
I have been growing this plant to see what it is. As a drought tolerant shade plant that holds its own in my natives garden, I have enjoyed its transition to spikey bur bearing seed standard. As my guiding principle in the yard is that everything should feed something, this plant will be allowed to stay.
Super invasive. Pull it over the summer prior to seeding and scan for later growth to avoid letting this nasty one on your lot. I let many undesirables go, but never this one!
Anyone one who allows this weed to grow anywhere has to be crazy especially if it can capture a bird.I just found a batch of this crap growing between two stockade fences which leaves a 10 foot wide easement passage for the utilities.I hit it one already with Ortho kills every thing but grass stuff about a week ago and it only went limp and a newly born baby rabbit went back there so I went to check on it.Luckily,it did get out OK but I sure didn’t.I got grabbed by one instantaneously after entering the area through my access gate and it was all down hill from there.As I tried to step onto each plants base to get them away from me,they just stuck to my socks,shoes and pants legs.Last time when I get the weed killer,I had to brush them off my pant legs using a wire grill cleaning brush and my leg suffered from that action and it was only on one small area of one pant leg.This time was 10 times worse.I picked those little balls off with my finger nails one or two at a time.It took over an hour to get it done and I still feel pinchy from them.I literately poured that Ortho weed killer on top of the seeds where they fell in full strength out of the container.I will now look online to find out what kills these weeds that some people I read like it for ground cover.They must be crazy.I will now take everything off and wash it and maybe the remnants I fell will go away.I guess a shower is after that.BEWARE!
Heckelia virginiana it’s the most aggravating plant I ever came across. Not only ruined each of my family clothes but also my favorite 100% cotton sports pants. Deceiving by its innocent look throughout the spring and summer, it has a clinging velcro properties starting mid August in Chicago. There was no way to salvage any of my clothing regardless of painstaking seeds removal and multiple washes. There always was one sharp little annoying thorn left. Lol. I’m greatful for your site bcoz I was finally able to identify this mystery culprit and deal with it before the burs dry out. This morning I probably did the same dance as “John in Illinois ” stepping onto each plants base to no avail, ha ha, lol, inviting all other stems like magnet to cling to my yet another favorite pants. Ha ha. What a comedy! Dzi?kuj?
Dziekuje means Thank you in Polish