Editing Arctium (section)

== In culture ==
[[File:Burdock Kilim Motifs.jpg|thumb|Burdock [[kilim motifs]]]]

{{blockquote|source=Russian author [[Leo Tolstoy]], in his journal (July, 1896) of a tiny shoot of burdock he saw in a [[plough]]ed field|Black from dust but still alive and red in the center. It reminded me of ''Hadji Murad.'' It makes me want to write. It asserts life to the end, and alone in the midst of the whole field, somehow or other had asserted it.}}

In Turkish Anatolia, the burdock plant was believed to ward off the [[evil eye]], and as such is often a motif appearing woven into [[kilims]] for protection. With its many flowers, the plant also symbolizes abundance.<ref name="Erbek">{{cite book |author=Erbek, Güran |title=Kilim Catalogue No. 1 |publisher =May Selçuk A. S. |date=1998 |pages=4–30}}</ref> Before and during [[World War II]], Japanese soldiers were issued a 15-1/2-inch bayonet held in a black-painted scabbard, the juken. Their nickname was the burdock sword (''gobo ken'').

[[Mary Palmer]]'s mid 18th century  ''Devonshire Dialogue'' records the burrs of the plant being known in Devon, England, as "bachelor's-buttons".

The [[English folk music|English folk]] artist [[Nancy Kerr]] refers to "The Land of Santa Georgia where the Banks of Burdocks Grow" in her song Santa Georgia, supposedly representing the relationship between country and city in modern England (especially Sheffield).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fifty Verses |url=https://www.melrosequartet.co.uk/lyrics-fifty-verses |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Melrose Quartet |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Spiegel |first=Max |title=Lyr Add: Santa Georgia |url=https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=167926 |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=mudcat.org}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=January 2025}}

=== Inspiration for velcro ===
After taking his dog for a walk one day in the late 1940s (1948), [[George de Mestral]], a Swiss inventor, became curious about the seeds of the burdock plant that had attached themselves to his clothes and to the dog's fur. Under a microscope, he looked closely at the hook system that the seeds use to hitchhike on passing animals aiding seed dispersal, and he realized that the same approach could be used to join other things together. His work led to the development of the [[hook and loop fastener]], which was initially sold under the [[Velcro]] brand name.<ref name="Hook and loop fastener">{{cite book |last=Strauss |first=Steven D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_yOHB54CxsC&pg=PA18 |title=The Big Idea: How Business Innovators Get Great Ideas to Market |date=December 2001 |publisher=Kaplan Business |isbn=0-7931-4837-5 |pages=15–pp.18 |author-link1=Steven Strauss |access-date=May 9, 2008}}</ref>

[[Serbo-Croatian]] uses the same word, {{lang|sh|čičak}}, for burdock and velcro;<ref name="cicak">{{cite web|url=http://hjp.znanje.hr/index.php?show=search_by_id&id=f1pnWRU%3D&keyword=%C4%8Di%C4%8Dak|title=čičak | work = Hrvatski jezični portal |language=hr |publisher= Znanje d.d. and Srce |access-date=September 17, 2013}}</ref> Turkish does the same with the name {{lang|tr|pitrak}}, while in the [[Polish language]] {{lang|pl|rzep}} means both "burr" and "velcro".<ref>{{Cite web |title=rzep - definicja, synonimy, przykłady użycia |url=https://sjp.pwn.pl/szukaj/rzep.html |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=sjp.pwn.pl |language=pl}}</ref> The German word for burdock is {{lang|de|Klette}} and velcro is {{lang|de|Klettverschluss}} (= burdock fastener).{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} 
In [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] burdock is {{lang|no|borre}} and velcro {{lang|no|borrelås}}, which translates to "burdock lock".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Borrelås|url=http://www.sprakradet.no/Vi-og-vart/hva-skjer/Aktuelt-ord/Borrelas/|access-date=2021-09-13|website=Språkrådet|language=nn}}</ref>