© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
8:
15-20, 2015
DOI 10.1515/hppj-2015-0003
Department of Agricultural Development, Demo-
critus University of Thrace, GR-682 00 Orestiada,
Greece
* Corresponding author:
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Common burdock (
Arctiumminus
): a common weed of non-
arable land in Orestiada, Greece
C.A. Damalas*, C. Alexoudis and S.D. Koutroubas
Summary
Common burdock (
Arctiumminus
) is a common biennial weed of non-arable land in typical
rural settings of Orestiada, Greece. The aim of this study was to describe the basic morphological traits
of this species throughout the main phenological stages of its life cycle and to obtain some insight
into its growth and productivity in Orestiada. Based on our observations, the plants occurred most
commonly in moist and fertile soils, usually as isolated individuals or in small patches near the parent
plants. The species is characterized by its large basal ‘elephant-ear’ leaves during the vegetative stage,
appearing in alternate arrangement, with irregularly wavy and non-toothed edges, as well as with long
hollow stalks forming a noticeable furrow on the top. By monitoring individual plants, it was found that
flowering (in the second year of growth) mostly occurred from late June up to early August. The flow-
ers were purple, occurring in bristly heads at the top of the stem. The bristly heads formed a fruit, con-
taining small black seeds. The average number of capitula per plant, from randomly selected popula-
tions in Orestiada, was found to be 69.7 and 57.7 respectively, whereas the mean seed number per ca-
pitulum reached 30.3 and 33.3 seeds, respectively.
Additional keywords
: biology, growth, identification, life cycle, morphology, seed productivity
Common burdock (
Arctium minus
) is a com-
mon biennial weed of non-arable land in
typical rural settings (abandoned fields,
roadsides, pastures, meadows, grazing
plains, stream banks and woodland edges)
of Orestiada, regional unit of Evros, in north-
ern Greece. The species has been recorded
by the authors also in the margins of corn
fields in the rural area of Eordea, regional
unit of Kozani, in western Greece. In fact, it
is a common herb of the Greek flora and oc-
curs throughout the Greek territory.
The genus name
Arctium
was derived
from the Greek word for ‘bear’ and most
likely refers to the scruffy and brown ap-
pearance of the plants’ bristly heads (burs)
at maturity. Common names of this weed
species in Greek include: ‘kollitsida’, ‘arkou-
dovotano’ and ‘platanomantilida’ (Anon-
ymous, 2013). Common burdock is origi-
nated in Europe and was likely brought to
North America by early French and English
colonists (Gross
et al.
, 1980). Actually, com-
mon burdock is a successful global invader,
present in Europe, North and South Amer-
ica, Australia and New Zealand (Nawrocki,
2010). Common burdock can grow in a wide
range of soils from sandy clay to moist loam,
most preferably in nitrogen-rich soils (Gross
et al.
, 1980; Van Vleet, 2009). Despite its wide
distribution, limited data exist in the formal
literature about the biology and the agro-
nomic value of this weed; the available in-
formation is scattered in the so-called grey
literature. The aim of this study was to de-
scribe the basic morphological traits of this
species throughout the main phenological
stages of its life cycle and to obtain some in-
sight into its growth and productivity in Or-
estiada.
