1^ 
ARCTIUM LAPPA. 
Bu7^dock* 
Class Sysge^ ESI A. — Order Polygamta iEQUALis. 
Nat. Ord. Composite Capitatje, Linn. 
ClNAROCEPHAL^, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Receptacle chaWy. Calyx globular; the scales 
at the apex with inverted hooks. Seed-down bristly, chaffy. 
Spec. Char. Leaves cordate, unarmed, petioled. 
This species of burdock is a biennial plant, flowering in July and 
August ; it is indigenous to Britain, and is common on waste grounds 
and on road sides in most parts of the country. 
The root is long, spindle-shaped, simple, externally of a dark 
brown colour, internally white ; the stalk is erect, succulent, grooved^ 
villous, of a purplish colour, branched, and rises to the height of 
three or four feet; the leaves are alternate, cordate, undulated, 
veiny, of a dark green colour above and whitish underneath, and 
supported on long, grooved foot-stalks r the lower leaves are very 
large, often exceeding twelve or eighteen inches in length ; the flowers 
are in terminal panicles ; the calyx is common to all the florets, glo- 
bular, composed of imbricated scales with hooked extremities, by 
which they adhere to clothesf and the fur of animals ; the corolla 
is compound, of a purple colour ;J the florets are all fertile, tubular, 
and divided at the limb into five pointed segments ; the stamens are 
five, white, and filiform ; the anthers are of a blue colour, and are 
united into a tube which projects beyond the corolla ; the germen 
IS somewhat triangular, supporting a slender style, longer than the 
stamens, and crowned with a bifid stigma ; the receptacle is punc- 
tured ; the seeds are oblong, quadrangular, of a brown colour, and 
covered with a prickly down. 
* Fig. a. the stjie and stigma, b. A floret magnified, c. A scale of the eahx. 
d. The anthers. 
t From this circnmstance the specific name Lappa is supposed to be derived. Lappa 
dici potest vel am ru \ct;im prehendere vel XawTuv lambere Rail Hist. p. 332. 
X There is a variety with white flowers, bat which 19 hj do means common.— 
