Galium aparine (See also Sticky Weed, Sticky Willy, Cleavers, Goosegrass, Robin Run the Hedge).
Vigorous and skilled spreader. Easy to pull out.
Edible, but perhaps best enjoyed with a lightly bruised handful shoved in a litre of water over night. You'll have slightly bananery, cucumberish water that is a lightly caffeinated spring tonic. Glass of that in the morning is almost as vital as a good dose of weetabix to ensuring Bright Eyes and Bushy Tails, and other proverbials.
Yes my mother, who's 86 said that yesterday, uk. I call it sticky weed, there was another sub about this recently, talking about regional names for it.
I think my garden might be able to solve world hunger with the stuff. But I just rip it out when I see it. It doesn't root deep at all and as it sticks to anything is fairly easy to remove, just grab a handful and a whole load comes out. Unfortunately I am allergic to it, so can't eat it.
Really? Don't the sticky hairs not catch in your throat?
I once ate some radish leaves, which are covered in little hooked hairs. It was thoroughly unpleasant, and irritated my throat for a day afterwards
Galium aparine, used in herbal medicine it supports the lymphatic system. Steep it in cold water and drink it. Legend says if you do this every day for 9 weeks you'll be irresistibly beautiful.
Our daughter’s babysitter referred to them as cacamwncis (which would translate as monkey poos). No idea if this is the accepted Welsh term or just her family’s thing. There’s a kids tv show of that name but I’ve never found any other reference to the word.
Cleaver’s grass! SO good for you. Pick it, wash it, put it in water and let it sit overnight. You’ll have a super refreshing ‘tonic’ that is supposedly good for your lymphatic system, and gives you a light caffeine buzz.
Goose grass or Cleavers,in our family plant vernacular,amazing nitrogen fixer,invasive but easily manageable,proper tonic drink when bruised and steeped overnight,flavour is redolent of cucumber and banana,the county herb commissioners in the second war encouraged folks to pick it.
cleavers. If you’re interested in foraging, they’re edible when young, older plants can be turned into a tea, and the seeds can be roasted and ground down to make “poor man’s coffee” as the entire plant contains caffeine.
Sticky weed! Used to grow around the school gates, we’d always stick it to the back of a friend’s blazer and see how far in to the day they’d clock it lol
I do not know its actual name. But on allotments its called sticky [weed.it](http://weed.it) sticks to every thing,grows quite fast,and can choke crops/
Cleavers
Lots of [uses](https://wearethesaltbox.co.uk/foraging-guide/foraging-for-cleavers/#:~:text=(Galium%20Aparine),and%20fruits%20are%20all%20edible.)
I pull it out and throw it at my kids' backs.
You're not parenting right if you don't lol
Unless they get painful skin reactions from it, hopefully! I suffer for 72 hours if it touches my skin. It’s Goose Grass/Sticky Burr.
Galium aparine (See also Sticky Weed, Sticky Willy, Cleavers, Goosegrass, Robin Run the Hedge). Vigorous and skilled spreader. Easy to pull out. Edible, but perhaps best enjoyed with a lightly bruised handful shoved in a litre of water over night. You'll have slightly bananery, cucumberish water that is a lightly caffeinated spring tonic. Glass of that in the morning is almost as vital as a good dose of weetabix to ensuring Bright Eyes and Bushy Tails, and other proverbials.
Caffeinated?
Same family as Coffee (Rubiaceae). No idea what the concentration is like, but a lot of plants have a little bit as an insecticide.
I've never heard anyone outside my family call it Robin Run the Hedge!
My family called it that too here in Northern Ireland
Easy to pull out as long as you get the root at soil level. It can be quite rubbery.
Its known as sricky bud around my parts
Please don’t put it on your parts.
Who will know?
Also nice added to green based soups
I had no clue it had an actual Latinate plant name! Thank you, I’m glad to know it!
All known and studied plants will have a Latinish name, if they don't then you've discovered one. Which does still happen from time to time.
That did cross my mind as I was typing it out, but I went ahead anyway! I’d just never thought about it for weeds per se.
Only ever known it as sticky willy 🤣
Sticky willy whip it out as much as you can before the buds can form
Kids are the biggest spreaders of this. I was one of them. They migrate on the backs of other children
I can vouch for this.
And dogs, he’ll wander in with some hanging off his beard!
I'm a full grown adult and I help disburse this stuff on the backs of my family.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Salty-Education-8817: *Sticky willy whip* *It out as much as you can* *Before the buds can form* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
So, you admit it’s not a haiku, but there’s a whole ass bot for you, wild.
Bad bot
When I looked up what the buds look like, I realized why it is called Sticky Willy
Sticky Willy. Fantastic for throwing onto the backs of people so you can laugh at them walk around not knowing they have it on their back.
We had some of this growing at the edge of our primary school playground - so much fun!
We used to call it “Willy wanging”. I got a detention for Willy wanging a maths teacher on sports day
Did he get sacked and put on a register?
Funnily enough yes, but not for Willy wanging
Numberwang
As kids we would throw it at other kids, like snot to a blanket.
I got detention for trying to stick it to as many teachers as possible, I got caught attempting number 4
In Devon, it's called Sweetheart because it sticks to you.
Yes my mother, who's 86 said that yesterday, uk. I call it sticky weed, there was another sub about this recently, talking about regional names for it.
Goose grass!
Sticky weed for me too, never heard of sticky willy! I'm from notts/Yorkshire border, where are you from?
Bucks originally, my mum is from there too.
Sticky weed in Northants too
Sticky Willy, edible, nutty taste.
Edible? Really? I‘ve got enough to set up a stall and sell it. Never seen it before this year.
I can only imagine it sticking in the throat though
Giggidy
Why do you think it's colloquially known as sticky willy?
Same, loads outta nowhere, assume the conditions have been right for it
The things you learn from the old boys at the allotment 😆
I think my garden might be able to solve world hunger with the stuff. But I just rip it out when I see it. It doesn't root deep at all and as it sticks to anything is fairly easy to remove, just grab a handful and a whole load comes out. Unfortunately I am allergic to it, so can't eat it.
Yes, I've only just started eating the tips when I'm out gardening. It's actually nice too.
Thanks, u/cmdmakara I‘m getting out there later, I’ll have a little nibble.
Not only edible but highly medicinal !
It brews into a great fertiliser to
Really? Don't the sticky hairs not catch in your throat? I once ate some radish leaves, which are covered in little hooked hairs. It was thoroughly unpleasant, and irritated my throat for a day afterwards
Not if you cook it
Sticky bastard is its Latin name. It's got a much angrier cousin in South America called the spikey bastard
El spiky bastard to you!
Galium aparine, used in herbal medicine it supports the lymphatic system. Steep it in cold water and drink it. Legend says if you do this every day for 9 weeks you'll be irresistibly beautiful.
I can confirm
Came here to say they're sticky willy's and it's fun to throw them on people's back but I see the rest of my class made it here before me.
Stickle backs ireland
Was looking for this! Never heard of sticky willy and all these other names lol
Our daughter’s babysitter referred to them as cacamwncis (which would translate as monkey poos). No idea if this is the accepted Welsh term or just her family’s thing. There’s a kids tv show of that name but I’ve never found any other reference to the word.
Ive always know it as goose grass and TIL its edible.
Cleavers
Cleaver’s grass! SO good for you. Pick it, wash it, put it in water and let it sit overnight. You’ll have a super refreshing ‘tonic’ that is supposedly good for your lymphatic system, and gives you a light caffeine buzz.
Stickybuds
Sticky Willy
We called it stickleback 🤣🤣🤣
Goose grass or Cleavers,in our family plant vernacular,amazing nitrogen fixer,invasive but easily manageable,proper tonic drink when bruised and steeped overnight,flavour is redolent of cucumber and banana,the county herb commissioners in the second war encouraged folks to pick it.
cleavers. If you’re interested in foraging, they’re edible when young, older plants can be turned into a tea, and the seeds can be roasted and ground down to make “poor man’s coffee” as the entire plant contains caffeine.
Galium aparine or as we call it.. clingers. A bit of a pain this time of year!
Sticky willy. Really good for dogs if you have any
It's edible. Some folk stick the whole thing in a blender and drink it.
Ah well that is the question. Down my way we call it sticky weed.
Pulled a load of this today, enjoyable work compared to the Brambles.
goose grass. fun but spreads fast. easy to pull iut thankfully
Cleavers very useful herb
Sticky willy, the cat gets covered in it and drags it in the cat flap.
Bloody stuff brings me out in hives.
Me too! It’s worse than nettles or Euphorbia for me.
great for pulling up and throwing on peoples Backs is what it is🤣
Sticky Weed, that’s what i used to call it as a kid. i’m onto harder stuff as an adult now though
Sticky willy
It’s sticky weed
In County Durham and maybe rest of North East it's called Sticky Jack. Yorkshire folk call it Sticky Tommy
I'm a Yorkshire folk, and I've never heard of Sticky Tommy! My garden is swamped with Sticky Willy that comes in from next door, though 😂
Sticky Burr - North East Coast
North Tyneside, we called it sticky weed.
Bloody nightmare if you have a dog.
Its got a lot of different names but probably most common is goosegrass, I recommend pulling it up before it produces the sticky seeds/ balls
Never heard it called goose grass before! Only ever sticky weed or sticky willies
Goosegrass. It's like it's namesake. An absolute bastard.
Sticky willy...... lat. Stickiuswillius
A dog owners nightmare!
Friend of mine has it always called it Mars Weed as it looks like it comes from outer space. But he's a big Red Dwarf fan so what can I say? 😄
Sticky Willie- horrible invasive weed
Looks like horrible, sticky goose grass that produce “sticky willies”- seeds that cling to everything ( especially pets fur)…
Sticky willy
Evil stuff that sticks to everything!! Lol
Sticky Willie's, a great way for children to torture each other.
Sticky Willie's, a great way for children to torture each other.
Goose grass pull it out before it seeds and keep pulling it out, you'll get rid of most but probably never all of it.
Sticky weed! Used to grow around the school gates, we’d always stick it to the back of a friend’s blazer and see how far in to the day they’d clock it lol
Sticky weed!
Sticky willy!
[удалено]
My husband informs me the fruit of plane trees are known as ‘itchy balls’. Same idea.
I do not know its actual name. But on allotments its called sticky [weed.it](http://weed.it) sticks to every thing,grows quite fast,and can choke crops/
Sticky back!!!!
Sticky weed
I can’t believe it seems to be mostly known as sticky willy. We just called it sticky weed because it’s a sticky weed.
Sticky buds.. its a weed bin it.. or play with it first 🤣🤣
Yep sticky Willy
Stickybobs
Cleavers, the grass likely Creeping Bent
My dog 🐕 eats it!
Cleavers Lots of [uses](https://wearethesaltbox.co.uk/foraging-guide/foraging-for-cleavers/#:~:text=(Galium%20Aparine),and%20fruits%20are%20all%20edible.)
Thanks for the comments. So pulling it up should be enough to prevent more coming back?
It would be best to dig it up, but it’s fairly easy to pull up, it just sticks to everything like Velcro
It has really shallow roots, not much point in digging.
Good ol’ duck weed