Beggarslice

 

Beggarslice
Hackelia virginiana

Your dog knows all about this plant. The seeds are like velcro and stick to fur this time of year. Sometimes the whole stem comes off along with bunches of other seeds and your dog will be covered in them.

But how did it get the name of Beggarslice? Other folks call it Stickseed, which is quite appropriate, but I haven't found anything that identifies the origin of Beggarslice, or Beggar's Lice.

The 'Lice' part of the name can be imagined, because it can be thought of as analogous to lice the way it sticks to you, but why does it belong to beggars? Perhaps it was a joke, a cheap form of lice that had to be begged for. Maybe beggars used to have a form of clothing that collected these burs easier than fine silk. Did beggars have to crawl, and therefore got more of these burs?

If anyone knows, or has an idea, please comment.