Teazle

Fuller’s Thistle is an old name for a teazle, and I’m guessing that was because fullers used them in the old days to help in the process of cleaning wool. Fullers were people who cleaned wool. The name teazle from the Anglo-Saxon taesan, meaning to tease, and tease in this sense meaning to pull out little bits and pieces of dirt, grass, twig, etc which the sheep might have picked up. The flower heads were used by cloth-workers and as you can see they are a mass of semi-stiff spines,which are longest at the top of the head. Teazles were also called Venus’ basin, card thistle, barber’s brush, brushes and combs and church broom, plants always have different names in different parts of the country, which is fascinating, but can also be confusing.

Teazles were used once the cloth was finished, where the teasing process ‘fleeced,’ or raised the nap on woollen cloth, to make it feel nice and be a little bit fluffy. What i didn’t know, but could guess at if I’d ever thought about it, teazles also had a medicinal use… most plants did in days gone by. The roots were said to have a cleansing quality, and could also be used for a cosmetic and as an eye-wash; an ointment made from the bruised roots cured warts and wens and guarded against cankers and fistulas. An infusion of the root could strengthening the stomach and creating an appetite, and could not only removing obstructions of the liver but could be used as a remedy for jaundice. One mysterious use was to cure and heal the quartaine ague… Hmmm, next time I have the quartaine ague I shall bear that in mind, and hang them round my neck and arms.

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