Description
Dipsacus – Teasel –
There are about 15 species of hairy or prickly biennials or short lived perennials, in this genus. They occur in damp grassland and woodland in Europe, Northern Africa, and temperate Asia. The simple or pinnatifid, toothed or cut leaves are held in opposite pairs. In the second summer, teasals bear cone shaped, white, pink, or purple flowers on long upright, branching stems. Grow in a wild garden.
Grow in any moderately fertile soil, including heavy clays, in sun or partial shade. Harvest flowers for air drying in mid and late summer. Self seeds freely.
D. sativus – D. fullonum subsp. sativus – Fuller’s Teasel – This biennial species is known only as a cultivated plant, though botanists now believe it may be derived from the wild Mediterranean species D. ferox. It is similar in most respects to D. fullonum but the small bracts that cover the flowers, are shorter and broader and slightly hooked at the apex-it is the dried heads of this teasel, gathered after flowering, that are used to ‘card’ woollen cloth, the springy hooks raising the nap as the cloth is dragged past. It is also grown as a curiosity and for dried flowers.
Zones 6-10
