BORAGE FAMILY BORAGINACEAE 
BEGGAR’S LICE 
Lappula virginiana (L.) Greene 
This biennial herb has the smallest of our common burs and 
by far the most tenacious. It is common in woods from New 
Brunswick to Ontario and Minnesota, south to Kansas, Louisi- 
ana and Georgia. It blooms from 
June to September and is always 
loaded with burs during the 
latter part of the season. 
There appears the first year a 
rosette of ovate or nearly rounded 
leaves with heart-shaped bases 
and long petioles. The second 
year brings the upright stem, 2-4 
feet high, with slender spread- 
ing branches. By flowering time 
the basal leaves have disappeared 
and the stem leaves, like those 
shown, remain. Leaves on the 
lower part of the stem are much 
larger than those above. 
The small flowers are nearly 
white and constructed much like 
others in the family. The fruit 
is nearly spherical but splits into 
4 nutlets which are armed on the 
margins and back with barbed 
prickles. 
The Burseed, Lappula echinata 
Gilibert, is a rare annual from 
Europe which is found principally 
along railroads. Its rough, widely branched stems are 6-24 inches 
high. The very small flowers are like those of the Beggar’s Lice 
but are blue, and the leaves are narrower. The nutlets have a double 
row of distinct slender prickles on the margins or distributed over 
most of the back. 
The Hairy Stickseed, Lappula Redowskii (Hornem.) Greene var. 
occidentalis (Wats.) Rydb., is a western plant that has been found in 
northern Illinois. It is very similar to the Burseed but the nutlets 
are armed with a single row of stout, flattened prickles that merge at 
the bases. 
262 
