Wool alien

The term wool alien is used for any plant species whose occurrence at a particular site is due to its having been transported there as a result of the making of wool products, the most common process being that the seed of this plant will have become attached to a sheep or other wool-producing animal, the animal shorn and the raw wool transported to a mill where it is refined, and the impurities discarded, including the seed, which then successfully germinates. Typical sites where wool-aliens are found are waste ground near woollen mills, but wool cleanings have also been used as soil conditioners in orchards and fields, and such species have been found there too.

Stork's-bills ("Erodium") are particularly prone to appearing as wool aliens in Britain (Stace 1997 p484)

References

* Stace, Clive (1997) "New Flora of the British Isles" (2nd edition) ISBN 0-521-58933-5