Wayland Town Crier 8/15/11: Wayland A-Z: X is for Xanthium strumarium. Probably everyone has arrived home from a hike at one time or another with prickly little fruits clinging to a piece of clothing, or has a dog or cat that arrived home with burs tangled in its fur. It could be cockleburs or burdock. Both plants have burs that hitchhike on clothing. The field by the parking lot at Lower Snake Brook off French Road in Cochituate is filled with burdock in fall and several fields at Greenways have plants. Cockleburs (or xanthium strumarium), native to North America, came to the Sudbury River Valley long before the Indians. The sandy well-drained soils of the region are very much to their liking. After setting deep roots, the light green to straw-colored stems grow 2 feet high and bear large heart-shaped leaves and tiny football-shaped hairy burs.