What outside plant like things attaches to socks or animal fur?

Question

Sometimes like walking on a dirt road or forest, these things, plant like seeds or something start sticking or attaching to your socks or pants. And so when you get home, to pry they off they are like velcro and are rather hard and sharp. They are like made of wood. I see it on dogs and cats after they've been outside too.

What are those little things called?

Answer 1

These are seeds and seed coatings. There are hooks on the seed coat and a magnifying glass will let you see the outside of the unique seeds.At least the ones on MY socks are.

There are a few plants notorious for this and you get to eventually recognize these "patches" and move around not through them on your walks. Burdock is one of these plants.

This stickiness is how these plants spread their seeds Some plants rely on birds to eat them and fly great distances to reseed. Some plants rely on a passing animal to attach to and eventually get carried away on their hair/fur. Some plants also rely on wind to reseed. There are other situations,too. Some seeds are very very tiny and others large.

These are tricks of nature or evolutionary schemes to reproduce the next generation.

Answer 2

In my neck of the woods they are called "Stick Tights" and they are seeds that have found away to be broadcast from location to location via bipedal or quadrupedal locomotion. They are just weed seeds that come from a weed called Queen Anne's Lace. However, there is a Queen Anne's Lace bred for the garden that does not produce the stick tights.

Answer 3

This answer is really going to depend on your location.

Out in West Texas, or Florida, it might be 'sand burrs'. I know the burrs out in west Texas are sharp enough to poke thru a bicycle tire...and theyre barbed, so they are hard to get out.

Other parts of the country might have thistles, or some other form of seed. These plants spread their seeds by lodging these 'burrs' into whatever passes by, hehehe...I'd advise against going barefoot in such locations. ;)

Answer 4

They are called cockle burrs and the inventor of Velcro got the idea from those little suckers.

Answer 5

Sounds like Burdock or the seeds of stinging nettles.

Answer 6

Man never say it is cruel to pelt an animal fur until their own skin are being pelted.

Answer 7

It's a grass burr :-) They are seeds for lots of different plants/grasses.