Dipsacus fullonum - Wild Teasel

Dipsacus fullonum (syn. sylvestris), also known as Wild teasel or Common teasel, is a biennial wild plant that is full of character. It proudly displays its flowering at human height, at the beginning of summer. Its upright inflorescences, resembling spiky brushes, gather a multitude of small pink-purple flowers loved by butterflies and other pollinating insects.  Its leaves can hold rainwater in small cups where some birds come to drink. Its seeds are also highly appreciated by birds like Goldfinches. Teasel deserves a place in a natural garden for the live spectacle it offers for a large part of the year and for its usefulness.  It will self-seed and can also be used in dried or fresh bouquets.

Teasel is native to North Africa, Europe, and Western Asia. This plant from the Caprifoliaceae family naturally grows in moist soils of ditches and riverbanks.  In the first year, it forms a basal rosette of long pointed leaves that curl up with flowering.  In the second year after sowing, this occasionally tall, spiky plant reaching up to 1.80 m (6ft) shows, at the end of sturdy leafy stems, spike-shaped capitula, about 8 cm (3in) long, standing on long pedicels. They bloom into mauve-pink florets emerging from curved and elastic bracts that are very durable, even after flowering. The opposing, rough leaves with spiny midribs, grouped in pairs along the floral stems, are fused two by two at the base, forming cups in which water flows and accumulates. The true function of these cups is still under study, but it seems that teasels are capable of absorbing dissolved or suspended mineral substances in them, like some carnivorous plants. Elegant Goldfinches particularly appreciate the ripe seeds.

Wild teasel self-seeds, but its spread is slowed down by the appetite of birds. It is simply superb in natural planting and meadows, in the company of other thistles, or large perennials such as hybrid mulleins or Cephalaria gigantea. It also pairs very well with giant grasses (Panicum virgatum, Miscanthus sinensis), hollyhocks, or poppies. This plant will thrive near water , where it can contribute to stabilizing the banks.  

Etymology: 'Dipsacus' is derived from the Greek Dipsan akeomaï 'I cure thirst'. In Latin, sylvestris means 'wild, of the woods'; Fullonum means 'fuller'. A variety of cultivated teasel with elongated heads and downward-curving tips, Dipsacus sativus, was used in the wool industry for hand-finishing woollen fabrics.