Tall Story

Around Shipley Park and the Woodside LNR at the moment, you will find hundreds of Teasel Plants (Dipsacus fullonum) growing tall and stately among the grassy path sides.

The flower heads sit atop the stems, spiky and covered with individual flowers which are attracting bees like you wouldn't believe.

The scientific name 'fullonum' comes from the days when the dried flower heads were used in the cloth making industry, buy 'Fullers' who would comb the cloth with them to raise the nap of the cloth.  Teasels were replaced in the 20th Century by metal carders, which did the job, but seem to lose some of the romanticism.