Sticktights Lantern Hill

It was late enough, and cloudy enough, in the afternoon that I could chance a walk up Lantern Hill. Just off the path, I noticed a gathering of "ticks"—but they were the kind that I could observe with impunity. In fact, I often bring these home with me: the sticky seeds of the Tick-Trefoils, as the three-leaved members of the Pea Family genus Desmodium are known to botanists and hikers alike. The more common name for these plants, "sticktights," is an apt description of the way they attach to clothing—they were designed to stick to fur—and hitchhike from place to place. In this way, a plant could try out new habitats, and that was all to the good. But among humans, the strategy works less well, since the fate of the seeds is usually to be pulled off and dropped unceremoniously in the trash. Those hitchhikers that avoid detection probably meet an equally bad fate when they have to go through the spin cycle. But since Desmodium species are ubiquitous, I don't think we have much impact on these—or any—"ticks."