Burdock

a despised weed. It is a member of the composite family, and is related to the thistles. The flowers and seeds are inclosed in a bur-like involucre, whence, no doubt, the name. The scales of the bur-like head are armed with curved prickles, by means of which children at play hook burdock heads together to form necklaces. "Burdocks are great travelers." The burs fasten themselves into the wool, fur, and hair of animals and are distributed. A cow's tail is not infrequently matted with such burs, and the same may be said of a sheep's fleece. Small birds are sometimes entangled by the strongly hooked burs. Instances are on record of a humming bird and of a goldfinch coming to an untimely end in this way. The Japanese are said to have improved the burdock by cultivation until its root is a prized garden vegetable. Burdock root is an old-fashioned remedy used to "cleanse the system,"--a rival of sarsaparilla. About 50,000 pounds of Belgian burdock root are imported yearly by American druggists. The fresh leaves, also, make a grateful, cooling poultice for certain swellings and ulcers.