COMMON BURDOCK

Not typically thought of as a "flower" the Common Burdock (Arctium minus), a thistle, really is a flower. My Golden Retriever was an expert at gathering these seed heads in his tail. We spent many hours combing them out much to his chagrin. This plant is an alien to the U.S. but it has made a multi-millionaire out of one individual. 

He, George de Mestral, an engineer, was intrigued by these burrs and how they were able to hold so tightly to his clothing and to his dog's hair. Microscopic examination clearly showed the small hooks at the end of the burr spikes that would easily hold tightly to a tangle of fibers. Thus, in 1941 he invented Velcro, using Common Burdock as his inspiration.

EXTRA: here you see the same seed head a couple of months later after the flowers had waned and the seed pod was produced.