Teasel
Teasel
Wildflower
A tall, prickly plant whose spiny seed heads once combed wool for cloth and now feed goldfinches through winter, with leaf-cups that catch the rain.
💡 Fun Facts
- Its spiky egg-shaped flowerheads bristle like a hairbrush and stand tall through the winter.
- Pairs of leaves join around the stem to make little cups that fill with rainwater.
- Goldfinches cling to the dry seed heads all winter to pull out the seeds.
📅 Through the Year
- Flowering:July to August
- Fruiting:August to February
Name Story
Dipsacus fullonum
means “the thirsty plant of the cloth-makers”
What does its name mean?
- Dipsacus — thirstGreek dipsa ‘thirst’
- fullonum — of the fullers (cloth-workers)Latin fullo ‘a fuller, a cloth-worker’
Where its leaves meet the stem they form little cups that catch and hold rainwater — a plant that seems to keep a drink ready, which is the ‘thirst’ in its name. A close cousin was once used by cloth-makers to comb and raise the fluff on wool.