Comments

Comments are encouraged and appreciated. We are amateur botanist, and we do make mistakes sometimes with our identifications. We strive to make this a good identifying resource. All comments are moderated by me and may take several days to appear. This is due to the high number of inappropriate comments that have nothing to do with this subject.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Canada Cockleburr (Xanthium strumarium var. canadense (P. Mill.) Torr. & Gray)



Asteraceae (Aster Family)

USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Photographic Location: Cumberland Mountain State Park, TN

A cocklebur was the inspiration for a Swiss engineer, George deMastral, in 1948, for the invention of Velcro. He examined the burs that stuck to his socks and discovered that they consisted of hundreds of tiny hooks, which attached themselves to anything loopy.
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3 comments:

  1. Michele LeeJuly 15, 2012 at 7:24 PM

    George, is this a different plant vs. just cockle bur? Nice find!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What's Blooming Now by George WallaceJuly 15, 2012 at 9:18 PM

    No, just plane ole cockleburr we have always known and loved.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WordfiendOctober 13, 2013 at 8:18 PM

    Thanks for your post on my blog. Yes, I think the plant I saw was a cocklebur. I'm not used to seeing them in flower.

    ReplyDelete

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