About Arctium tomentosum Mill.
Arctium tomentosum Mill. is a biennial herbaceous plant. It has an erect stem with ascending branches, and can grow to around 2 meters (6 feet 7 inches) tall. Its leaves are grayish white and densely felted on the surface, becoming green and glabrous closer to the stem. Basal leaves have petioles, with heart-shaped leaf blades that have finely toothed margins. Mature leaves measure 20 to 50 centimeters (7.9 to 19.7 inches) long and 10 to 30 centimeters (3.9 to 11.8 inches) wide. The flowers are purplish red, and measure 0.9 to 1.2 centimeters (0.35 to 0.47 inches) in diameter. This species can be told apart from related species by the dense covering of white woolly hairs on the underside of its leaves. It produces flowers and fruits from July to September. Arctium tomentosum is native to Eurasia, ranging from Spain to Xinjiang Province in western China. It has also become naturalized in other parts of the world, including North America.
