'Dandelion and Burdock' was once a fairly popular drink and can still be bought  although it is seldom  made from the roots of dandelions and burdock plants  but from synthetic flavourings and colourings.  These little tufts of purple flowers emerging from the prickly bracts are of the Lesser Burdock which grows on rough ground or beside fields.  As the flower dies the tough bracts form burs with hooked bristles which catch on fur or clothing so allowing the seed to be spread over a large area and children have great fun throwing them on others.
Each year on the second Friday in August at South Queensferry, near Edinburgh, the Burry Man  walks though the little town in a tradition with records dating from 1687.  He is dressed from his head to ankles with thousands of burs with only slits for his eyes and mouth and his arms are outstretched holding staves covered with flowers. He has a hat decorated with flowers and needs someone to help him to walk especially as he is offered a drink of whisky through a straw everywhere that he visits during his 9 hour walk around the town.
After taking his dog for a walk one day in the late 1940s, George de Mestral, a Swiss inventor, became curious about the seeds of the Burdock plant that had attached themselves to his clothes and to the dog’s fur. Under a microscope, he looked closely at the hook system that the seeds use to hitchhike on passing animals aiding seed dispersal, and he realised that the same approach could be used to join other things together. His work led to the development of the hook and loop fastener, which was initially sold under the Velcro brand name.