Spotting

hey gordon!
thank you for your suggestion. it would be possible, but this bush was totally brown, lignificated-i think it will grow into a tree, we'll see. i think it's really hard to tell at this point. i'll go back where i found it and then we'll see whether it's a burdock of something else.
Thank you again! :)

It's a bit difficult to tell from your photos what this is, but I'm going to venture a guess that it is one of the burdocks (Arctium spp.). By spring the leaves have been mostly stripped from the plant stems leaving only the brown seedheads on the stems and branches. These can stick to the fur of animals, or your clothing, and be transported to another location before the animal or person finds them. In pulling them off, the seadhead often breaks apart scattering the seed. The "sticky" nature of burdock seedheads inspired the development of Velcro!