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It appears that there is a degree of confusion when it comes to identifying burdocks and dock. So this is a photo guide to try to help with this problem 🙂 So without further ado……
First up is a dock leaf
This one is a burdock leaf
Here the two leaves are side by side, and you can see the difference in shape and texture between the dock leaf, on the left, and the burdock on the right.
This shows the underside of the two leaves, and you can see that the dock leaf, on the left, is smoother with less prominent veins than the burdock.
This is a close up of the underside of the burdock leaf – in addition to the very prominent veins, you can also make out the furry underside of the leaf, made up of little tiny “hairs”
This is the dock growing as a whole plant
The whole dock plant showing the seed spire starting to develop
And finally, this is one of the whole burdock plant – you can just make out the developing centre, which will grow and form branches with the characteristic burrs.
The Island Smallholder 
May 29, 2011 at 5:52 am
This was real nice of you. The two are much more clear to me now. David says we have Burdock growing around an old shack; and the Dock (curly and broadleaf) are in the garden.
I cannot wait for the Burdock to flower so I can gather its seeds.
May 29, 2011 at 7:22 am
You’re welcome 🙂 Be very careful about encouraging the burdock to grow. Grow it an enjoy it, but never let it throw it’s own seeds. Once it self-seeds you will have acres of the stuff and it is hard to get rid of once it reaches nuisance level 🙂
June 12, 2011 at 7:21 pm
I read that burdock is a biennial. I have too much. I cut it down and destroy the seeds. I have used both bleach and vinegar which appears to kill it.
If I successfully destroy the seeds–will it eventually give up?
nkyle
June 13, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Yes, burdock is biennial – basically this means that the plant grows for a year, dies back, and in the second year matures and makes seed heads.
Destroying the seeds is a good place to start – it means that your burdock will not be spreading even more seeds around. Burning them is a good way to go.
The bad news is that the seeds can lie dormant in the ground for years. If you already have “too much” burdock, then the chances are that you will have a large store of burdock seed in the ground waiting to come up.
Really you need to be attacking the growth of the plant itself as well as the seed heads. Assuming that you don’t want to spray, keep cutting back the leaf growth regularly. At first it will seem as though the plant just bounces back each time you cut it back but, in reality, every time you cut it you are weakening the plant. When you cut the leaves of the plant, it will go into a sort of panic to replace the leaf growth in order to seed – hence the appearance of healthy growth. Let those leaves start to develop and then cut them again. Keep doing this and you will start to see the burdock plant put on a little less active growth each time.
Good luck 🙂
November 19, 2011 at 3:11 am
Thank you. I am winning the battle doing exactly what you describe.
November 19, 2011 at 6:38 am
Glad to hear you’re winning 🙂
April 14, 2013 at 7:40 pm
Very helpful as I’m tryin to give my house rabbit things that won’t make him poorly but don’t simply want to feed him on things that I buy at the pet shop, could u please advise what the dock leaf looks like when seeded?
April 24, 2013 at 6:04 am
The leaf doesn’t really change except to look older and start getting ready to die back. The seeds turn brown and dry out ready to drop. I will add some photos later but I will need to wait until ours go to seed before I can get them.
Good luck with feeding the house rabbit 🙂