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.