cocklebur

[kok-uhl-bur]

noun

1. any composite plant of the genus Xanthium, comprising coarse weeds with spiny burs. bur.

2. the burdock, Arctium lappa.

cocklebur

/ ˈkɒkəlˌbɜː /

noun

1. any coarse weed of the genus Xanthium, having spiny burs: family Asteraceae (composites)

2. the bur of any of these plants

Word History and Origins

Origin of cocklebur¹

First recorded in 1795–1805; cockle ² + bur ¹

Example Sentences

Carolina parakeets may have been attracted to farms by the cockleburs growing there as weeds.

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The Carolina parakeet had a liking for eating cockleburs, a coarse flowering plant that contains a powerful toxin called carboxytractyloside.

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With the help of an observant hunter, several friends and an airplane overhead, Pfliger was fortunate enough to find her cocklebur laden keeshond.

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Soon he was observing cockleburs and other barbed seeds that attach themselves to animals and clothing.

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The literature of veterinary medicine abounds in similar examples: swine eating sprayed cockleburs with consequent severe illness, lambs eating sprayed thistles, bees poisoned by pasturing on mustard sprayed after it came into bloom.

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