Hooked

The other day while doing some yard work and general bush whacking, at the end of the day when I was done both the dog and I had to get deburred.  These burrs are from one of the nastiest of plants in the Bella Coola Valley, the common burdock (Arctium minus).  It's an introduced weed that has been in the valley for quite awhile.  It is mostly confined to the roadsides, especially along Highway 20 and other side roads and margins of fields and woodlands.  Quite a bit of effort has gone into it's eradication in the valley through pulling and cutting it before it seeds, which is successful if you're are persistent year after year.

When you remove the burrs from clothing or the dog, they will stick to your bare skin, so I had a closer look at them and you can see why.  The individual hooks are so stiff and sharp I think they actually grab onto the ridges of your skins fingerprints.  It's easy to see why the inventors of Velcro apparently got their inspiration for their idea from burdock, I wish I'd have figured that out before today.  Grizzly