Greater Burdock

The Lesser Burdock is the main Burdock here in Calgary but I did get a chance to see this one Greater Burdock plant. The Velcro-like burrs attach to one's clothing or animals' fur. According to enchantedlearning.com, "George de Mestral was a Swiss engineer who invented Velcro in 1948. While hiking, he had noticed that burrs (burdock seeds) stuck to his clothing extraordinarily well. The burrs had hook-like protrusions that attached themselves firmly to clothing. Mestral used this same model to develop Velcro, which consists of one strip of nylon with loops, and another with hooks. Mestral patented Velcro in 1957. It was originally used mostly for fastening clothes, but is now used to fasten many other things."