Gaillardia pulchella achenes

These parts enjoyed a spate of rain in May which encouraged the Gaillardia pulchella (fire wheel, Indian blanket, etc.) to grow big and tall plus put out plenty of achenes.  But now, having produced plenty of achenes, and with no more rain forthcoming, the plants are pretty much punked.  Yet the stems are much branched at the top and four feet high.  Yes.  They are big, unsightly and dead looking. 

So,  Ray decided to swing hoe the lot of them (maybe 50 square meters).  But it's super hot outside  so Ray decided to wear shorts.  Which means that as Ray whacks at the weeds the achenes are likely to fly everywhere, many alighting in Ray's shoes or on his white socks.

Many know that white socks are the best color for socks in most situations.  However, white socks are also perfect vectors for firewheel achenes.  The reason is these particular achenes are topped by white colored awned scales which blend in with the white color of your socks, making them almost invisible to the naked eye.  Meanwhile the other end of the achene is poking through your sock, sticking into your skin.  Ugh.  Plus, these achenes are hard to extract from a sock once rooted in. 


The twain achenes below were extracted from one sock.  While in the sock they irritaed Ray's foot to the max.  Irritated, I tell you.  Uh.  The bottom one's awns got messed up during the extraction procedure.  Anyway!  This goes to show that even beautiful, native wildflowers can have an evil side.