Common Teasel, Fuller's Teasel(Dipsacus fullonum L.)
Teasel Family (Dipsacaceae)
▲first year rosette, showing spiny "bumps" on leaf top surfaces
▲ young plant showing toothed (but not deeply lobed), lanceolate leaves, with spiny bumps on leaf top surface and along midvein underneath leaves, and fused leaf bases around stem
▲ Mature, flowering plants
▲ common teasel inflorescence; common teasel has lavender flowers while cutleaf teasel has white flowers
▲ spiny stems and opposite, lanceolate leaves
▲ dried inflorescences persist on dead plants
Common Teasel:
a biennial weed from Europe with spiny stems and leaves that grows 2-5 feet tall
leaves opposite, lanceolate, clasping the stems
flowers purple in densely arranged in spiny, ovoid heads at the top of the plants
inflorescence used in dried floral arrangements and had been used to comb wool and raise the nap on woven cloths
can distinguish from cutleaf teasel by the deeply lobed leaves on cutleaf teasel, plus the tiny flowers in the "comb" of cutleaf teaselasel are white, not purplish