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Project Noah Nature School
Dipsacus fullonum
Tall plant with prickly, woody stems. Lanceolate shaped leaves with thorns on underside (photo 5). Flower heads are cylindrical and have lavender blooms (see photos 3 and 6). Native to Eurasia and North Africa (as per Wikipedia).
Meadow
The dried heads of this plant have historically been used to raise the nap on fabric, especially wool.
Spotted on Aug 23, 2013
Submitted on Feb 11, 2014
7 Comments
Thank you Antonio and Hema!
Beautiful series ForestDragon,perfect spotting "structure",like in a guide,first photo is just gorgeous,congrats and thanks for sharing
nice details!
Thank you Maria. My only sadness is that I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of the whole plant. I got so interested in the details...oops.
I agree with suzmonk - very nice series with all parts of the plant and interesting information.
Actually suzmonk, it is a fairly tall plant and stays upright even after it dies. It was very easy to spot as it didin't look like any of the other vegetation in the area. I hadn't seen it before. I don't know if it grows where I live.
I did see quite a bit of it when we were up in the Niagara region, though.
What a striking plant, but I bet it's easy to overlook in a field because the eye sees and just registers a weed. Interesting note about using it to raise the nap on fabric. I'm going to be on the lookout for one this summer ... nice job of showing many different views.