It was a beautiful day today in our part of  California. After a little morning fog the sun was out and it was warm. The ground is wet and there is new grass in the areas where it has been dry all summer. That means fall, but it felt like spring.

There were even a few new flowers.

It really is fall however and there are noxious weeds to show for it. I am vigilant about keeping the worst of these weeds out of my pastures,  but there is one area that is not regularly grazed and I wasn't paying attention.

Pretty flower, but appropriate for a Halloween post, this is Devil's Claw.

Here is the green seed pod.

This is what the seed pod looks like as it dries out. Those two pointed tips are very sharp. When they get stuck in wool you can't get them out.

Fortunately this plant is very easy to get rid of. The stems aren't tough and one chop with the shovel will take care of it. These are in the burn pile now.

I have done pretty well at getting rid of most of this spiny cocklebur, but missed the plants in this area. Why is it bad? Take a look at a close-up.

Not only is it spiny, but those burs stick to wool like velcro as well as having an extra sharp point on the end. In the summer I hoe all the small cockleburs that i see. Even though I chopped and will burn all of these plants today they left hundreds of cockleburs (seeds) behind on the ground.

Here is a lesson in seed dispersal.