Botanical name: Dipsacus fullonum
Folk names: Brushes and combs, Venus’s basin

Type: Biennial

Wildlife: Bumblebee magnet! You may also be lucky to find summer generations of Peacock or Brimstone butterflies nectaring on the flowers. Sparrows drink from the water captured between the leaves and stems. Goldfinches may take seeds in autumn. Caterpillar plant for moths including the Teasel Marble which may nestle within the seed-heads.

Flowers: July to August

Decorative merit: Tall and branching with conical prickly flowerheads of tiny mauve flowers appearing around the flowerhead. Erect, ribbed and prickly stems have side branches and are cupped at the base by leaves that catch water. Grows up to 3m high and seed-heads provide striking winter interest.  

Where: Shade or part-sun. Back of a border or in a wilder corner where you may need to support it with canes.  Mine is near the washing line where I have an eye-level view of the bumblebees feeding on it. Will self-seed but the spiky rosettes are easy to spot and pull out – just leave two or three or more so you have teasels in flower every year.

Folklore: Its spiny heads were used to ‘tease’ out the separate fibres of wool before spinning (a process known as carding) or to raise the pile or ‘nap’ of finished cloth. Used in Exeter when it was a hub for the woollen cloth industry (teasel heads are part of the coat of arms of Tuckers Hall).

Honeysuckle family relative of devilsbit scabious and field scabious.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank