A plant with bitter-tasting, burr-like seeds or seed pods that stick to animal fur for dispersal.
Compound from 'bitter' and 'bur' (Middle English 'burre,' the prickly seed pod). The name describes both the taste and the physical characteristic of clinging seed cases.
Burdock plants evolved their clingy seed coats to hitchhike on passing animals, and they inspired the invention of Velcro—a Swiss engineer noticed burrs stuck to his dog after a hunting trip and realized the hook-and-loop design.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.