The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #116793   Message #2510110
Posted By: Jim Dixon
08-Dec-08 - 02:54 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: tickseeds, Spanish needles, beggar lice
Subject: Folklore: tickseeds, Spanish needles, beggar lice
The naming of wild plants and animals is a type of folklore. Often the same species is known colloquially by different names in different places, or the same name might be used for different species.

Right now I'm interested in the kinds of seed that stick to your clothing when you brush against the plant.

Sometimes you don't notice the seed until long after you have passed the plant, and unless you're very curious about such things, you might never figure out which kind of seed came from which plant.

What do you call these seeds?

Do you know different terms for different kinds of seeds, or do you use one catchall term for all types of sticky seeds in your environment?

Do you know what kind of plant each seed comes from? Do you use a different term for the plant than you use for the seed?

And finally, where are you from?

Here are some of the terms I have found:

tickseeds
Spanish needles
beggar lice
cobbler's pegs
devil's pitchforks
tick-tights
preacher's lice