Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Lesser Burdock - Arctium minus   (Hill) Bernhardi
Members of Asteraceae:
Members of Arctium with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Order Asterales » Family Asteraceae
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Author(Hill) Bernhardi
DistributionIn the Mountains and Piedmont only. First collected in 1841 by Ferdinand Rugel near Asheville, Buncombe County.

Native of Eurasia; in N.A. throughout the U.S. and southern Canada.
AbundanceFairly common to common in the Mountains, and infrequent to fairly common in the Piedmont.
HabitatFields, pastures, roadsides, waste places, trailsides, vacant lots, barnyards.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting June-October.
IdentificationBurdocks (Arctium spp.) are thistle-like plants, at least with the inflorescences -- numerous purple to rose-colored flowers, all with disk corollas only, and usually spiny bracts. Lesser Burdock differs from our other 2 Arctium species in its very short stalks to the heads (vs. long); thus the whole plant looks "squatty" in comparison to the others, which have the flowers raised well above the foliage.
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State RankSE
Global RankGNR
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