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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-986
Teasel
Dipsacus fullonum
Common teasel is a spiny biennial, forming a broad basal rosette in its first year and a tall prickly flowering stem in its second, topped with egg-shaped flowerheads ringed with hooked bracts and small pink to purple flowers that draw butterflies. The dried, hooked seed heads were historically used to raise the nap on woven wool cloth and are still dried for craft and floristry use today, and the abundant seed is an important winter food source for finches and other seed-eating birds.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–8
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Moderate · Well-Drained
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 5.9–7.5
- Plant type
- Biennial
- Mature height
- 4–6 ft
- Mature spread
- 12–30 in
- Plant spacing
- 14–30 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
Adzuki is the odd one out among the beans in this group: a very hot summer is actively too hot for it, since heat above about 35C damages…
Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
African Eggplant, also called gboma or scarlet eggplant, is a West and Central African relative of eggplant that gives two harvests from one…
Herbaceous · USDA 8–12
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–11
Alsike Clover
Trifolium hybridum
Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranth greens are one of the few leafy vegetables actually built for peak summer heat rather than one that just tolerates it - sown once…
Herbaceous · USDA 2–11
Anise
Pimpinella anisum
Anise is a single-season annual grown for its aromatic seed, which flavors bread, sweets and spirits like pernod and ouzo, while the young…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–9
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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