Dipsacus fullonum

Wild Teasel, Common Teasel

[not native to the Mid-Atlantic area]

[ click on any image below to see larger version ]

Family: Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family)

Mid-Atlantic bloom time: late May - June
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe: September - October

Wild Teasels are easily identified with their prickly stem and leaves, and its purple, dark pink or lavender flowers that form an egg-shaped head infloresence on the end of its stems. Each inflorescense head is subtended by narrow, long bracts that curve upward, with the longest exceeding the top of the head. The middle of the head blooms first and then the upper and lower parts.

Wild Teasel can most easily be distinguished from Wild Teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus) when in bloom; Cut-leaf Teasel has white flowers, not lavender or pinkish like Wild Teasel.

28 June 2017
Bristoe Station Battlefield, Bristow, VA

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