Tied in knots

As the year winds down, the roadsides and bushes are bristling with seeds of all sorts. Rose hips and burrs, berries and nuts, ballooning hairy cat's ear and hawkweeds, pods and fluff and coins and teasels, spiny balls and powdery dusts.

I noticed a tiny plant in a muddy bank on Tyee Spit; a clump flat against the soil, barely two hand's width across. Among the feathery leaves were a few specks of pink, miniature flowers, too small to notice, except that I was watching my footsteps carefully, trying not to slip on the unstable bank.

Common stork's bill, or red-stem stork's bill, Erodium cicutarium.

I found a match in my guide, but wasn't sure of the flowers; five petals, or four? So I went back a few days later. Too late; the flowering season is almost over.

The last buds, in my hand. I have them in water now, but they haven't opened.

Three seed capsules

The guide book says, about the seeds,

"Capsules, 33-5 cm long, splitting open into 5 segments, each with 1 or 2 smooth seeds, and tipped with a spirally twisting, persistent style."

I had brought home the bit of stem with seed capsules and buds, and tonight, when I checked, the capsules had split open, and there were the twisty styles.

They've tangled themselves up.

I teased out a couple. They're thread-thin.

The furry tips will contain one or two seeds each.

More seeds tomorrow.

Worm's-eye view

When we parked at Centennial beach last week, a man was cutting the grass on the dividers with one of those big riding mowers, looking bored. Back and forth, around the signposts, down to the end and back again, shaving a mere half-inch or so off the top; no challenge in it. I would have been yawning, too, and I'm not easily bored.

When we returned, he was gone. The grass didn't look much changed. While I waited for Laurie to de-boot and re-shoe, I sat on the curb and looked at the two-inch-high plants sharing the divider with the grass and clover.

Common storksbill. The leaves are hairy, fern-like, the flowers 5 petalled, short-lived. The seeds grow in long, pointed capsules, taller than the rest of the plant.

"As the fruits dry, they split lengthwise into 5 sharp-pointed segments, each attached to its portion of the separated style. The slender style becomes spirally twisted as it dries, but it straightens out again when wet. With alternate moisture and dryness, this uncoiling squirming action drives the attached seed into the ground." (From Plants of Coastal British Columbia, Pojar & MacKinnon)

Another view of the leaves. After being crushed by the mower, they are straightening up again.

A seedling ribbed plantain with hairy leaves. This may never get a chance to flower; they bloom at the top of tall spikes, which will get mowed down.

I pity the poor guy up on his high mower; all he sees from up there is a green fuzz.