Teasel
Dipsacus fullonum
The heads were used to raise the nap on wool. The water that collects in the leaf cups was said to cure eye complaints. Both uses are still in practice.
Overview
Teasel is a plant of striking architecture: a tall biennial that spends its first year as a flat rosette and its second reaching two metres, producing globose oval heads of pale purple flowers visited by bees in a ring that travels slowly up the head from bottom and top simultaneously, meeting in the middle. The dried heads — spiny, rigid, pale brown — were used for centuries in the textile industry to raise the nap on fulled wool, teasing the fibres to a smooth, consistent surface; the Latin *fullonum* means of the fullers, the craftsmen who processed cloth. No satisfactory mechanical substitute for teasel heads in fine napping has ever been found.
Botanical Notes
A biennial, 50–200cm, with a basal rosette in the first year and a tall, prickly-stemmed flowering plant in the second. Stem leaves opposite, connate — joined at the base to form a cup around the stem that collects water and, in summer, occasionally small trapped insects. Flower head ovoid, 3–8cm, surrounded by long curved involucral bracts; individual florets pale lilac-purple, opening in a band that moves up and down the head simultaneously, June to August. Fruit small, ribbed nutlets favoured by goldfinches. Found on disturbed ground, roadsides, railway embankments, river banks, and woodland edges throughout England and Wales; less common in Scotland. The leaf-axil water — the Venus's basin or devil's water-pot of folk tradition — has been studied and found to contain compounds with weak antibacterial properties.
Lore & History
The water that collects in the cupped leaves was called the Virgin's basin, the Venus basin, or the devil's water-pot depending on the tradition and the period. It was used as a cosmetic face wash to remove freckles, as an eye-drop for failing sight, as a charm ingredient for love, and as an antidote to the effects of witchcraft. The range of contradictory virtues attributed to a single accumulated puddle of rainwater suggests the power of a striking and unusual feature to attract explanation. John Gerard called the plant a 'great Fullers Teasle' and was primarily interested in the textile application. Culpeper, working a generation later, assigned it to Venus and concentrated on the cosmetic and protective uses. The textile industry teasel was distinguished from the wild teasel (*D. sylvestris* in older nomenclature, now considered the same species) primarily by the more recurved, hook-like spines of cultivated strains.
Warnings
No significant toxicity. The sharp bracts and prickly stems cause mechanical irritation and should be handled with care; gloves recommended when gathering dried heads. The plant itself presents no chemical hazard. The root has been used medicinally as a bitter tonic and for joint complaints; no significant contraindications at normal doses.