24 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Achenes obovate-prismatic, compressed, with prominent longitu- 

 dinal lines, rugose, greyish-olive, often marbled with black. Pappus 

 short, brittle, denticulate. Plant pale-green ; leaves generally 

 whitish-cottony beneath. 



Greater Burdock. 



French, Bardane Commune. German, Gebrauchliche Klette. 



Dr. Prior tells us that " this plant is called clock, as many others are, from its 

 Marge leaves, but why hur is uncertain. Some derive this syllable from the French 

 bourre, Latin hurra, a lock of wool, such as we often find entangled in it. It may 

 quite as probably be a corruption of hardana, or it may be a contraction of butter, 

 from the leaf being used to wrap butter in." The stalks of the Burdock cut before 

 the flower is open, and stripped of their rind, form a delicate vegetable when boiled, 

 similar in flavour to asparagus. In the raw state they may be eaten with oil and 

 vinegar as salad. They were sometimes candied with sugar in the time of Bryant, as 

 those of Angelica are. They are slightly laxative, but perfectly wholesome. The seeds, 

 which are bitter and slightly acrid, have been used in medicine. A decoction of the 

 root forms one of the French pectoral ptisans ; it has also been recommended as a wash 

 for ulcers, &c. The bruised leaves are applied by the peasantry in some districts as 

 cataplasms to the feet, and as a remedy for hysterical disorders. Even those of us who 

 are not botanically inclined must be well acquainted with the fruits of this plant in our 

 country autumnal walks. The little hooks of the involucre have a ti'oublesome tendency 

 to adhere to everything with which they come in contact, and we may often see our 

 own or our companions' garments inadvertently decorated with these little balls. 

 One writer on plants says, "they seem to justify their name, lappa, which comes from 

 a Celtic word, llap, a hand, for they appear to have the power of catching at every 

 passer-by." Shakespeare makes Pandarus say of his kindred : — 



" They are burs, I can tell ye ; they 

 Will stick where they are thrown." 



SPECIES II.— A RCTIUM MINUS. Schkuhr. 



Plates DCC. DCCI. DCCII. 



Lappa minor, Lam. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 463. 

 A. Lappa, var. /3, Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii, p. 234. 



Radical leaves ovate or oblong, cordate, repand-denticulate 

 or crenate or dentate ; petioles hollow. Anthodes in racemes at 

 the extremity of the stem and principal branches. Pericline 

 ovate-globular or ovate-ovoid in flower, arachnoid or glabrous ; 

 phyllaries narrowly subulate, as long as or shorter than the 

 florets. Limb of the corolla cylindrical, tapering at the base, 

 not constricted below the teeth, glabrous; tube about as long 

 as the limb, much narrower at the base than the top of the 

 fruit. 



