Burdock Root (Organic)

Seen by many in North America and Europe as a common weed, burdock is a sturdy biennial plant reaching up to 6 feet (2 m) high, with 18 inch (50 cm) wide leaves forming a rosette at ground level, with smaller versions growing up the thick flowering stem. Burdock root grows straight down as much as 3 feet (1M) into the subsoil. In mid-summer, the plant blossoms into a dense array of globular flowers with sticky bracts that cling to passing animals and people. These burs were in fact the inspiration behind the invention of Velcro fasteners, when the inventor found them sticking to his dog after an afternoon walk and he realized that objects could be fastened together in the same fashion. The plant grows on roadsides and waste places and around field boundaries throughout Britain, Europe and North America.