CUTLEAF TEASEL
File Size: 88 KB
 
Dipsacus laciniatus  L.
Clay County, Kansas
Biennial
Height: 2-10 feet
Family: Dipsacaceae - Teasel Family
Flowering Period:   July, August, September
Also Called: Cut-leaved teasel.
Stems: Erect, stout, rough-hairy, longitudinally ridged.
Leaves: Opposite; basal leaves irregularly cleft; stem leaves once or twice pinnately-divided into stalkless segments; segments not distinct leaflets; margins more or less bristly-fringed; bases of each pair of leaves joined, forming cup-like structure.
Inflorescences: Heads, dense, egg-shaped to cylindrical, 1 to 4 inches tall, 1 to 2 inches wide, terminal on long stalks; involcural bracts mostly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1 to 4.5 inches long, 1/8 to 1/2 inch wide, mostly shorter than mature head, spreading or curved upward, spine-tipped.
Flowers: Calyx small, cup-like; corolla funnelform, about 1/2 inch long, unequally 4-lobed, whitish; stamens 4, projecting conspicuously beyond corolla; bract subtending each flower rigid, long-tapering.
Fruits: Achene, 1/8 inch long, crowned by calyx; seed 1, hairy, grayish-brown.
Habitat: Waste areas, weedy pastures, wet ditches, and roadsides.
Distribution: Principally east 1/2 of Kansas.
Origin: Cutleaf teasel was introduced from Europe.
Comments: See also common teasel Dipsacus fullonum.

Cutleaf teasel inflorescence
97 KB
Clay County, Kansas
Cutleaf teasel flowers
97 KB
Clay County, Kansas
Cutleaf teasel joined leaf bases
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Clay County, Kansas
Cutleaf teasel
125 KB
Clay County, Kansas
Cutleaf teasel leaves
124 KB
Clay County, Kansas