Teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, is a spiny plant with an ominous past. The Iroquois considered the root poisonous and used it accordingly to poison an enemy and even the innocent. The water gathered in the base of the leaves was used as a wash for acne and to cool inflammation of the eyes. Modern herbalists are looking at the plant as a possible treatment for Lyme Disease. The plant was also used as a brush and the stalk has been experimented with as a spindle for fiction fire in conjunction with a clematis fire board.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Teasel Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software. Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Beneficial Botanicals; Useful Plants for Our World. Web.

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 226-227

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 201

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 160-161

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

Wescott, David. Primitive Technology; A Book of Earth Skills, Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999. pg. 45