120 ' BUKDOCK. 



decrease in size towards the top of the stem, so as to be nearly 

 ovate. The flowers, supported on short peduncles, are purplish, 

 and more numerous towards the top of the stem. The in- 

 volucre * is globose, greenish, composed of imbricated, lan- 

 ceolate scales, each of which terminates in a long, soft spine, 

 hooked at the end. The florets are surrounded by the invo- 

 lucre, and seated on a paleaceous receptacle. The corolla is 

 furnished with a long slender tube, and a regular ovate limb, 

 divided into five linear spreading segments ; filaments hair- 

 like, very short ; anthers forming a cylindrical tube, as long as 

 the corolla. Germen oblong, downy ; style filiform, longer 

 than the stamens ; stigma re flexed. Fruit of many solitary, 

 oblong, brown, angular grains, crowned with a simple and short 

 pappus. Plate 8, fig. 1, (a) involucre cut through vertically, 

 showing the situation of the fruit ; (b) floret of the natural size ; 

 (c) isolated fruit or achenium. 



This plant occurs abundantly in almost all climates, by road 

 sides and waste places, flowering in July and August. 



The generic name is derived from apKros, a bear, in allusion 

 to the roughness of the fruit. It is well known in rural districts 

 by the name of bur and clot-bur, from the singular manner in 

 which its hooked bristles '[ adhere to every object with which 

 they come in contact ; hence the specific name Lappa, from Xcc- 

 Biiv, to lay hold of, or as some think, from llap, aha7id, in Celtic. 



The stems of Burdock before the flowers appear, stripped of 

 their outer rind, have been proposed as a substitute for aspara- 

 gus, or to be eaten with vinegar and the yolk of eggs, in the 

 form of a salad. The root contains a saponaceous substance, 

 which has been advantageously employed in washing ; pure 

 starch has been obtained from it, and the ashes produced by 

 burning the plant green, between the period of flowering and 

 seeding, yield a large proportion (nearly one part in three) of 



* It is generally smooth, but there is a variety whose involucre is covered 

 with a cottony down, and is considered a distinct species by some botanists, 

 under the name of Arctium Bardana, WUld., or Lappa tomentosa, Allioni. 



•f- Boys in the country have a method of catching bats by throwing up 

 the tenacious involucres of this plant, whitened with chalk, in the way of 

 their flight ; the bats, attracted by the object, hasten towards it, entangle 

 their membranous wings in its hooked bristles, and are thus brought to 

 the ground. 



