Arctium

Arctium is a genus of biennial plants commonly known as burdock, family Asteraceae.<ref>Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 816</ref> Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced worldwide.<ref name="fna">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Burdock's clinging properties, in addition to providing an excellent mechanism for seed dispersal, led to the invention of the hook and loop fastener.

Description

Plants of the genus Arctium have dark green leaves that can grow up to Template:Convert long. They are generally large, coarse, and ovate, with the lower ones being heart-shaped. They are woolly underneath. The leafstalks are generally hollow. Arctium species generally flower from July through October. Burdock flowers provide essential pollen and nectar for honeybees around August, when clover is on the wane and before the goldenrod starts to bloom.<ref name=abc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Burdock's clinging properties make it an excellent mechanism for seed dispersal.<ref name="fna" />

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Taxonomy

A large number of species have been placed in genus Arctium at one time or another, but most of them are now classified in the related genus Cousinia. The precise limits between Arctium and Cousinia are hard to define; there is an exact relation between their molecular phylogeny. The burdocks are sometimes confused with the cockleburs (genus Xanthium) and rhubarb (genus Rheum).

Accepted species

The following species are accepted:<ref name=POWO_329745-2>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Arctium abolinii Template:Small
• Arctium alberti Template:Small
• Arctium × ambiguum Template:Small
• Arctium amplissimum Template:Small
• Arctium anomalum Template:Small
• Arctium arctiodes Template:Small
• Arctium atlanticum Template:Small – Algeria, Morocco
• Arctium aureum Template:Small
• Arctium chloranthum Template:Small
• Arctium dolichophyllum Template:Small
• Arctium × dualis Template:Small
• Arctium echinopifolium Template:Small
• Arctium egregium Template:Small
• Arctium elatum Template:Small
• Arctium evidens Template:Small
• Arctium fedtschenkoanum Template:Small
• Arctium grandifolium Template:Small
• Arctium haesitabundum Template:Small
• Arctium horrescens Template:Small
• Arctium karatavicum Template:Small
• Arctium korolkowii Template:Small
• Arctium korshinskyi Template:Small
• Arctium lappa Template:Small – greater burdock – much of Eurasia; naturalized in North America, Australia and New Zealand
• Arctium lappaceum Template:Small
• Arctium × leiobardanum Template:Small – Siberia
• Arctium leiospermum Template:Small
• Arctium × maassii Template:Small
• Arctium macilentum Template:Small
• Arctium medians Template:Small
• Arctium minus Template:Small – lesser burdock – Europe and southwestern Asia; naturalized in North and South America, Australia and New Zealand
• Arctium × mixtum Template:Small
• Arctium nemorosum Template:Small
• Arctium nidulans Template:Small
• Arctium × nothum Template:Small – central and eastern Europe
• Arctium palladinii Template:Small – Turkey, Iran, Caucasus
• Arctium pallidivirens Template:Small
• Arctium pentacanthoides Template:Small
• Arctium pentacanthum Template:Small
• Arctium pseudarctium Template:Small – Afghanistan, Tajikistan
• Arctium pterolepidum Template:Small
• Arctium radula Template:Small
• Arctium refractum Template:Small
• Arctium sardaimionense Template:Small – Tajikistan
• Arctium schmalhausenii Template:Small
• Arctium × semiconstrictum Template:Small
• Arctium tomentellum Template:Small
• Arctium tomentosum Template:Small – woolly burdock – northern and eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran, Caucasus, Siberia, Xinjiang; naturalized in North America
• Arctium triflorum Template:Small
• Arctium ugamense Template:Small
• Arctium umbrosum Template:Small
• Arctium vavilovii Template:Small
• Arctium × zalewskii Template:Small

Etymology

Circa 16th century, from bur + dock, the latter meaning sorrel of the genus Rumex.<ref>Collins Dictionary</ref>

Ecology

The roots of burdock, among other plants, are eaten by the larva of the ghost moth (Hepialus humuli). The plant is used as a food plant by other Lepidoptera including brown-tail, Coleophora paripennella, Coleophora peribenanderi, the Gothic, lime-speck pug and scalloped hazel.

The prickly heads of these plants (burrs) are noted for easily catching on to fur and clothing. In England, some birdwatchers have reported that birds have become entangled in the burrs leading to a slow death, as they are unable to free themselves.<ref name="sas">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Toxicity

The green, above-ground portions may cause contact dermatitis in individual with allergies as the plant contains lactones.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Uses

Food and drink

File:Burdockgobo.jpg

A dish containing a Japanese appetizer, Template:Transliteration, consisting of sautéed burdock root and carrot, with a side of sautéed dried daikon

The taproot of young burdock plants can be harvested and eaten as a root vegetable. While generally out of favour in modern European cuisine, it is popular in East Asia. Arctium lappa is known as Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in Chinese, the same name having been borrowed into Japanese as Template:Transliteration, and is eaten in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. In Korean, burdock root is called Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and sold as Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), or "whole burdock". Plants are cultivated for their slender roots, which can grow up to about one metre long and two centimetres across. Burdock root is very crisp and has a sweet, mild, or pungent flavour with a little muddy harshness that can be reduced by soaking julienned or shredded roots in water for five to ten minutes. The roots have been used as potato substitutes in Russia.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

Immature flower stalks may also be harvested in late spring, before flowers appear; their taste resembles that of artichoke, to which the burdock is related. The stalks are thoroughly peeled, and either eaten raw, or boiled in salt water.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Leaves are also eaten in spring in Japan when a plant is young and leaves are soft. Some A. lappa cultivars are specialized for this purpose. A popular Japanese dish is Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), julienned or shredded burdock root and carrot, braised with soy sauce, sugar, mirin and/or sake, and sesame oil. Another is burdock makizushi (sushi filled with pickled burdock root; the burdock root is often artificially coloured orange to resemble a carrot).

In the second half of the 20th century, burdock achieved international recognition for its culinary use due to the increasing popularity of the macrobiotic diet, which advocates its consumption. It contains a fair amount of dietary fiber (GDF, 6 g per 100 g), calcium, potassium, and amino acids,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and is low in calories. It contains the prebiotic fiber inulin.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It contains a polyphenol oxidase,<ref>Extraction, Partial Characterization, and Inhibition Patterns of Polyphenol Oxidase from Burdock (Arctium lappa). Mie S. Lee-Kim, Eun S. Hwang and Kyung H. Kim, Enzymatic Browning and Its Prevention, Chapter 21, pp. 267–276, {{#invoke:doi|main}}</ref> which causes its darkened surface and muddy harshness by forming tannin-iron complexes. Burdock root's harshness harmonizes well with pork in miso soup (tonjiru) and with Japanese-style pilaf (takikomi gohan).

Dandelion and burdock is a soft drink that has long been popular in the United Kingdom; it has its origins in hedgerow mead commonly drunk in the mediæval period.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Burdock is believed to be a galactagogue, a substance that increases lactation, but it is sometimes recommended to be avoided during pregnancy based on animal studies that show components of burdock to cause uterus stimulation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In Europe, burdock root was used as a bittering agent in beer before the widespread adoption of hops for this purpose.

Traditional medicine

The seeds of A. lappa are used in traditional Chinese medicine under the name Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang-zh; some dictionaries list the Chinese as just Template:Lang-zh).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Burdock is a traditional medicinal herb used for many ailments. Burdock root oil extract, also called bur oil, is used in Europe as a scalp treatment.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In culture

File:Burdock Kilim Motifs.jpg

Burdock kilim motifs

Black from dust but still alive and red in the center. It reminded me of Hadji Murad. It makes me want to write. It asserts life to the end, and alone in the midst of the whole field, somehow or other had asserted it.{{#if:Russian author Leo Tolstoy, in his journal (July, 1896) of a tiny shoot of burdock he saw in a ploughed field|{{#if:|}}

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In Turkish Anatolia, the burdock plant was believed to ward off the evil eye, and as such is often a motif appearing woven into kilims for protection. With its many flowers, the plant also symbolizes abundance.<ref name="Erbek">Template:Cite book</ref> Before and during World War II, Japanese soldiers were issued a 15-1/2-inch bayonet held in a black-painted scabbard, the juken. Their nickname was the burdock sword (gobo ken).

Mary Palmer's mid 18th century Devonshire Dialogue records the burrs of the plant being known in Devon, England, as "bachelor's-buttons".

The English folk artist Nancy Kerr refers to "The Land of Santa Georgia where the Banks of Burdocks Grow" in her song Santa Georgia, supposedly representing the relationship between country and city in modern England (especially Sheffield).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Better source needed

Inspiration for velcro

After taking his dog for a walk one day in the late 1940s (1948), George de Mestral, a Swiss inventor, became curious about the seeds of the burdock plant that had attached themselves to his clothes and to the dog's fur. Under a microscope, he looked closely at the hook system that the seeds use to hitchhike on passing animals aiding seed dispersal, and he realized that the same approach could be used to join other things together. His work led to the development of the hook and loop fastener, which was initially sold under the Velcro brand name.<ref name="Hook and loop fastener">Template:Cite book</ref>

Serbo-Croatian uses the same word, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, for burdock and velcro;<ref name="cicak">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Turkish does the same with the name {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, while in the Polish language {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} means both "burr" and "velcro".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The German word for burdock is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and velcro is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (= burdock fastener).Template:Citation needed In Norwegian burdock is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and velcro {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, which translates to "burdock lock".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>