COMPOSITE FAMILY COMPOSITAE 
COMMON BURDOCK 
Arctium minus Bernh. 
This commonest inhabitant of vacant lots and farm woods is 
best known for its burs. The bur is the entire head and its bur 
nature is due to the fact that the stiff bracts of the involucre 
have hooked tips. 
These burs get 
onto the tails of 
cattle and become 
so entangled that 
it is almost im- 
possible to get 
them out. They 
get into wool of 
sheep and the 
only way to get 
them out is to cut 
or tear off some 
of the wool. They 
also get into the 
fur of rabbits and 
other animals and onto the clothing of man. In all these cases, 
as the burs are carried about, the fruits are widely scattered. 
Roots and leaves of this plant have been used in medicine. 
The Burdock is another immigrant from Europe which has 
liked this country well enough to spread all over it. Indeed, it 
is so common that most people pass by without ever stopping to 
notice how pretty its flowers are. 
The plant usually grows 2-5 feet high and is much branched. 
The lower leaves are sometimes 1 foot long, nearly as broad, and 
are very veiny. They are usually heart shaped at the base, dark 
green and smooth above, lighter and wholly hairy beneath, and 
with stout hollow petioles that are not grooved. 
The flowers, blooming from July to November, have tubular 
corollas some shade of purple, the color varying considerably in 
different plants. Bracts of the involucre are smooth or slightly 
cottony, the spines of the outer ones spreading but those of 
the inner erect and shorter than the flowers. The akenes are 
oblong and somewhat flattened, and the pappus consists of 
numerous short bristles. 
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