Fuller's Teasel

(Dipsacus fullonum)

 

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Fuller's Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)

Alien: Native of Europe.

Identification: Flowers lavender, pink to blue with 4 petals, small and arranged in an egg-shaped flowering head. Flowers usually appearing in bands on the head. Flowers interspersed with spines creating a pin cushion effect. Base of flowering head with long, spiny bracts curling upward over the flower head. Stem with spines. Leaves elongate, narrow, sessile to the stem and in opposite pairs. Plant 2 to 6 feet in height.

Distribution: Throughout most of North America.

Habitat: Fuller's Teasel is a weedy species found in empty lots, fields, and along roadsides.

Flowering period: July to October.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Fuller's Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)

Similar Species:

The distinctness of the individual flowers and the opposite pairs of leaves will distinguish teasels from thistles. Cut-leaf Teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus) (not treated here) is very similar to Fuller's Teasel, but the leaves are lobed, particularly toward their fused bases.

Similar Species

No Similar Species