Back of Beyond The NT: HitchHiking Through Life

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In Grapes of Wrath, author John Steinbeck describes hitchiking seeds as they seem to humans: "The concrete highway was edged with a mat of tangled, dry grass, and the grass heads were heavy with oat beards to catch on a dog's coat, and foxtails to tangle in a horse's fetlocks, and clover burrs to fasten in sheep's wool; sleeping life waiting to be spread and dispersed, every seed armed with an appliance ofdispersal, balls of tiny thorns, and all waiting for animals and for the wind, for a man's trouser cuff or the hem of a woman's skirt, all passive but armed..." I have had the pleasure of removing these skin piercing daggers from all parts of my anatomy, some after a long bout of agony trying to locate the almost invisible penetrator. Their design and structure have been the source of inspiration for such tools as Velcro and the modern screw.
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Native Grass Chrysopogon latifolius
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