1. Burry Man, South Queensferry, West Lothian, wearing costume covered in burdock burs, 11 August 2017.

2. We made seed pictures from burdock seeds, etc. [Bradford, November 2013].

3. I was born and brought up in Liverpool, but spent lots of my childhood in rural Wales.
Burdock: As children we referred to this as a sticky bud tree, and used to play the game of trying to attach the sticky buds to our friends, much as you would in a snowball fight. This was much more fun on horseback, though … trying to comb the sticky burrs out of the ponies’ manes afterwards was a distinct disadvantage [Childwall, Liverpool, July 2011].

4. We used to call burdock clingers [Thorncombe, Dorset, April 1991].

5.  In Oban, Argyll, burdock is known as sticky willow, because of the burs [Glencruitten, Argyllshire, October 1990].

6.  As a child in Essex we threw the burs of burdock … on to the backs of unsuspecting friends – if they stuck they had a sweetheart, if they fell off after a short while their affection was not reciprocated. I lived in the then countryside of Chigwell/Hainault area, but my children played the game 20 years later at Witham, Essex [Yafforth, North Yorkshire, January 1990].

Images: main, lesser burdock (Arctium minus), Faversham, Kent, July 2014; lower inset, greater burdock (A. lappa), Thames Path between Richmond and Ham, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, July 2014.