''Arctium tomentosum'', commonly known as the woolly burdock or downy burdock, is a species of

burdock ''Arctium'' is a genus of biennial plants commonly known as burdock, family Asteraceae. Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced worldwide. Burdock's clinging properties, in addition to providing an excellent mecha ...

belonging to the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

. The species was described by

Philip Miller Philip Miller Royal Society, FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botany, botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ...

in 1768.

Distribution

This species is native to

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

to Xinjiang Province in western

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

.Flora of China Vol. 20-21 Page 153 毛头牛蒡 mao tou niu bang ''Arctium tomentosum'' Miller
/ref> It is also naturalized in other parts of the world such as

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

.Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
/ref>

Description

''Arctium tomentosum'' is a biennial herbaceous plant. The stem is erect, with ascending branches. It can reach a height of about . Leaves are grayish white and quite felted, green and glabrous toward the stem. Basal leaves are petiolate. Leaf blade is heart-shaped, with rather denticulater margins. They can reach a length of and a width of . Flowers are purplish red, with a diameter of . This species can be distinguished from related ones because the underside of the leaves is covered with white woolly hairs. Flowers and fruits appear from July to September.Flora of North America Vol. 19, 20 and 21 Page 169 Woolly burdock, bardane tomenteuse, ''Arctium tomentosum'' Miller
/ref>

Gallery

Arctium tomentosum - Keila.jpg , Plant File:Asteraceae - Arctium tomentosum-000.JPG, Leaf File:Asteraceae - Arctium tomentosum.JPG, Inflorescence

References

Sources

*Kell DJ. 2006. Arctium Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 816. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 357. 1754. In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Eds.) Flora of North America North of Mexico, Vol. 21: Asteraceae. New York and Oxford. *Lopez-Vinyallonga S, Romaschenko K, Susanna A and Garcia-Jacas N. 2011. Systematics of the Arctioid group: Disentangling Arctium and Cousinia (Cardueae, Carduinae). Taxon 60(2): 539–554. *Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia (3 voll.) - Edagricole - 1982 *Tutin, T.G. et al. - Flora Europaea, second edition - 1993 *Zangheri P. - Flora Italica (2 voll.) - Cedam - 1976

External links

* *
Catalogue of Life

Tela botanica
tomentosum Plants described in 1768 Taxa named by Philip Miller {{Cynareae-stub