Fuller's teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)

Synonyms: Dipsacus sylvestris, Dipsacus fullonum L. ssp. sylvestris, Dipsacus fullonum L. ssp. fullonum

Common Names: Common teasel, venuscup teasel, Indian teasel

Description: Cultivated for use of the dried flower heads in wool processing. A blue dye obtained from the dried plant is an indigo substitute and is water soluble. A yellow is obtained when the plant is mixed with alum. This plant also has a history of medicinal uses from treating skin diseases to treating jaundice.

Habit: Biennial; exists as a basal rosette until flower stems develop large taproot up to 2 ft.

Leaves: Large, oblong, opposite, sessile leaves that form cups; prickly, especially on the lower midrib; rosette leaves are lanceolate to oblanceolate.

Stems: Reach 6 ft (1.8 m) in height; short prickles on the midvein; stem leaves are opposite, lanceolate and fused at the base.

Flowers: Purple in color, small, dense, oval-shaped, bracts present; bloom in a spiral pattern.

Fruit and seeds: Hairy achene, or a dry fruit with a single seed.

Habitat: Native to Europe. Found in roadsides, ditches, waste places, riparian sites, fields and pastures.

Reproduction: By seed.

Similar species: Cutleaf teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus), which has irregularly cut dissected leaves with white flowers and Indian teasel (Dipsacus sativus), which have shorter, stiffer and curved backward spines at the tips of the flower bracts.

Monitoring and rapid response: Cutting, digging, and burning; The use of Triclopyr applied to foliage and stems.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Invasive Plant Atlas, the USDA PLANTS Database and the U.S Army Corp of Engineers.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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