burdock1.jpg
Common burdock |
burdock1.jpg
| Scientific Name | Arctium minus (Hill) Bernh. |
| Other Names | clotbur, cockle button |
| Life Cycle | biennial |
| General Description | A biennial with large leafed rosette the first year and branched perennial with dandelion-like leaves forming a rosette. |
| Seedlings | Cotyledons are ovate with a waxy surface. Young leaves are egg-shaped on the end of long redish-purple petioles. |
| True Leaves and Stem | Plant forms a basal rosette first year and has branching stems the second year. Leaves are very large, heart shaped, and has wavy margins. Plant resembles a hairy version of rhubarb the first year. Undersurface of leaf is woolly, upper surface is smooth. Stems are hoolow, grooved, and angular. |
| Roots | taproot |
| Flower and Fruit | Purple disk flowers are produced the second year and look like those of thistles. Flower head dries to form a bur with hooked bracts that adhere to surfaces like velcro. Seed is enclosed in an achene. |