Tease me Teasel
One day last week before class I went walking up Blackford Hill to enjoy the first proper snow we've had in Edinburgh this winter. It was a beautiful, sunny day and it made me think about how alive nature is even in the dormant season. In my opinion the star of the day was the dried wild teasel; still adundant on the hillside, the dried flower heads have lost none of their character since summer, which is why they're often used in autumnal or winter bouquets.
Discapus fullonom or wild teasel is a UK native flowering biennial (blossoms in the second year then dies) belonging to the family Dipsacaceae. Its height ranges from 50-200cm and it is normally found in rough, grassy places at an altitude somewhere between 0-365m above sea level. Teasels are described perfectly in Simon Harrap's essential wild flower field identification book Harrap's Wild Flowers in which the flower heads are listed as egg-shaped, 4-8cm tall enclosed in long, narrow spiny bracts (modified leaves found at the bottom of flowers) that persist through winter. Teasel plants flower from June to August producing tiny, pinky-purple individual flowers arranged in a horizonal band around the flowerhead. The stems are prickly and thorny, as are the leaves; each bristle on the leaves has a swollen, blister-like base with a row of spines on the midrib below.
The magical properties of teasel are quite limited as its theraputic uses are still undecided but I think plants that are visually pleasing or that bring joy to a space will raise the energy regardless. Nevertheless the root of the teasel has many beneficial physical effects particularly as a diuretic, a diaphoretic, a stomachic and a toxin eliminator. Traditionally it was thought that rainwater caught in the 'cups' or 'Venus basins' created by the teasel's particular leaves and stem attachment (in its axils) had the ability to cure skin disorders and poor eyesight. Today it is still used to cure skin problems such as acne in the form of an infusion prepared from the leaves. Teasel can also be applied as a topcial cream or salve to cure warts using the from the roots of the plant.
Sources and further information:
Harrap's Wild Flowers: a Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland by Simon Harrrap
rhs.org
www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_teasel.htm
Photo credits: Radicleii
Teasels on the hill
Teasel from above
Teasel
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