Arctium lappa seed

Burdock has many herbal, medicinal, & culinary uses. The leaves are used in salads & to make tea. The roots are edible and the dried roots take like artichokes, and the stalks can be eaten like celery. The plants also attract bees, birds, & butterflies.

Greater Burdock is rather tall, reaching as much as 2 metres. It has large, alternating, cordiform leaves that have a long petiole and are pubescent on the underside.
The flowers are purple and grouped in globular capitula, united in clusters. They appear in mid-summer, from July to September. The capitula are surrounded by an involucre made out of many bracts, each curving to form a hook, allowing them to be carried long distances on the fur of animals. The fruits are achenes; they are long, compressed, with short pappuses.
The fleshy tap-root can grow up to 1m long.