For two years now, I have been allowing a weed to grow immediately below my master bedroom window. The weed in question is a burdock. The plant has now reached four feet in height and is both sturdy and, in my estimation, handsome.
The burdock, a biennial forb,
volunteered last year. During its rosette
stage, the plant looked similar to rhubarb.
Burdock is a non-native with a
powerful second-year growth cycle. The
plant can reach a height of six feet and produce heart-shaped leaves up to a
foot wide and nearly twice that in length.
The flowers are similar to those of a thistle and a single burdock might
produce 15,000 seeds.
I am not allowing the seeds of
the burdock to either mature or spread.
Many claims have been made regarding
burdock’s medicinal value. Some people espouse
that burdock increases their sex drive. Burdock
has been used to ‘purify” blood, treat high blood pressure, kill germs, and
treat colds and cancer. The plant is seen
as valuable medicine to combat anorexia nervosa, gastrointestinal (GI) complaints,
joint pain (rheumatism), gout, bladder infections, complications of syphilis,
and skin conditions.
My Burdock Plant
Flowers Up Close
—Mitchell Hegman
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