Even in his summer coat, Bear is a furry dog. Plant parts regularly stick to him, such as raspberry canes that drag along on the ground, or sticky leaves that mat his fur. Lately whenever we walk in the woods, Bear becomes festooned with little green burrs. His hitchhikers come from robust burdocks, unassuming enchanter’s nightshade, and several other plants currently unknown to me. The stalks with their dried burrs lie in wait all through the year for their more mobile neighbors to brush by.


Enchanter's nightshade

Not that plants are as motionless as they appear. Their movements may even occur over the course of a day. Many of our early spring flowers open in bright light, thwarting my attempts to photograph them. Other movements, though slower because they are a result of plant growth, actually move the plant along the ground. Wild strawberries and poison ivy send runners into the driveway, anchoring into the ground and growing leaves until we drive the ends into the mud.

Other than champion growers like kudzu, most plants need help to actually colonize new areas. Some plants harness wind and water, but many exploit animals. Hitchhikers can be tenacious, and I often end walks picking little sticky balls out of the folds of cloth they’ve knit in my shirt. Other plants use edible fruits to bribe their transporters, sometimes with a convenient laxative effect on the consumer providing the seeds with natural fertilizer.

The most successful strategy of the last several millennia has been to exploit one specific animal, Homo sapiens. For this relationship, the attractive characteristic does not have to be in the fruit or seed. Plant strategies that run the gamut from poisoning leaf grazers to attracting fruit foragers can entice humans to carefully save a plant’s seed and tend to each new generation. Early colonists to the Americas brought a medicine’s cabinet worth of species, some used very effectively while the use of others was perhaps counterproductive. They also brought a diversity of food plants greater than that found in most contemporary gardens. Many of the hardier (i.e. easier to grow) plants escaped cultivation, and coincidentally fell out of general favor. For example, chicory, queen anne’s lace, plantain, burdock… all were purposefully planted in the new world, and now flourish in the edges of our lawn. A dog may be able to carry burdock for miles, but humans brought it across oceans.


Burdock