I was up on the mountain at 1400 m when I saw this wild plant. My husband stopped for some berries and, as I like to say, sometimes it’s all you need to notice something: stop a little. I was drawn by the shape and crocheted texture of the buds. Only after that I saw the purple petals on another almost flowered bush. The name of the plant – as I found out on internet – is Articum tomentosum, commonly known as wooly burdock, or, in Romanian, (a kind of) brusture or lipan. There are many species of Articum, this one is a little bit different from the one in the plain I grew up in, which is more biting. It travels (!) a lot because the flower has little hooks ang clings by your clothes or animals’ fur. This is “its thing” that distinguish it from other plants.
I found out that the root is eatable and used in some cuisines – not in ours – like Japanese, Korean, Portuguese or Italian. You can collect it in spring or autumn when is juicy, in summer can be too dry. It is crunchy, tastes sweet and can be combined with pork meat and rice. The taste of dirt can be reduced by keeping the root into water before cooking it.
I know from my grandmother you can use the leaves as antiseptic, you just wash them and put it on the wound (I didn’t try) and the roots against hair loss. Now I’ve learned that it can be used also as detox and hypoglycemic (tea or tincture).
I was glad to see a plant this high at this height. As you climb to 2000 m you come across smaller plants. The color of the flower is what I like most.
I’ve made the photos with my smartphone Samsung Glaxy s5.