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Arctium minus
Another thank you is due to Anne from Alberta (aka annkelliott@Flickr) for contributing a photo to BPotD (original via BPotD Flickr Group Pool), so. thank you once again!
Well, I don''t want to bore anyone, but I do need to mention that I had a dream with burdock in it a couple nights ago. Travelling along a forested road in my dream, I remember a forest understorey dominated by burdock (and that''s about all I remember).
Arctium minus, or lesser burdock, is native to most of Europe, temperate west Asia and northern Africa. However, it has been introduced to North and South America, as well as New Zealand. In North America, it is now found across the continent. Its spread isn''t surprising given the dispersal mechanism used, epizoochory (cf. epianthropochory).
Lesser burdock has a long history of culinary and medicinal uses, discussed in the Plants for a Future database and (briefly) in Emergent Vegetation of the Urban Ecosystem. For the usual excellent factsheet, Arctium minus at Missouriplants.com offers both a description and extra photographs.