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Arctium lappa
Also called Great Burdock, Edible Burdock, Greater Burrdock, Harlock, Beggar's Buttons, Burdock, Lappa
Greater burdock is a tall biennial from Eurasia grown for its edible taproot (gobō), and it is a weed in many temperate regions. It needs rich, deep soil and full sun to produce a long, straight root.
Arctium lappa, commonly called greater burdock, gobō (牛蒡/ゴボウ), edible burdock, lappa, beggar's buttons, thorny burr, or happy major is a Eurasian species of plants in the family Asteraceae.
It has become an invasive weed of high-nitrogen soils in North America, Australia, and other regions, but is cultivated for its vegetable root.
This species is native to the temperate regions of the Old World, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, and from the British Isles through Russia, and the Middle East to India, China, Taiwan and Japan.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Arctium lappa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
