What is "dipsacus fullonum"

Fuller \Full"er\, n. [AS. fullere, fr. L. fullo. See Full, v. t.] One whose occupation is to full cloth.

Fuller's earth, a variety of clay, used in scouring and cleansing cloth, to imbibe grease.

Fuller's herb (Bot.), the soapwort ( Saponaria officinalis), formerly used to remove stains from cloth.

Fuller's thistle or Fuller's weed (Bot.), the teasel ( Dipsacus fullonum) whose burs are used by fullers in dressing cloth. See Teasel.

Teasel \Tea"sel\, n. [OE. tesel, AS. t[=ae]sel, t[=ae]sl, the fuller's herb. See Tease.] [Written also tassel, tazel, teasle, teazel, and teazle.]

1. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Dipsacus, of which one species ( Dipsacus fullonum) bears a large flower head covered with stiff, prickly, hooked bracts. This flower head, when dried, is used for raising a nap on woolen cloth.

   Note: Small teasel is Dipsacus pilosus, wild teasel is Dipsacus sylvestris.

2. A bur of this plant.

3. Any contrivance intended as a substitute for teasels in dressing cloth.

   Teasel frame, a frame or set of iron bars in which teasel heads are fixed for raising the nap on woolen cloth.

Dipsacus fullonum, syn. Dipsacus sylvestris, is a species of flowering plant known by the common names wild teasel or fuller's teasel, although the latter name is usually applied to the cultivated species Dipsacus sativus. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it is known in the Americas, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. The inflorescence is a cylindrical array of lavender flowers which dries to a cone of spine-tipped hard bracts. It may be 10 centimeters long.

It is a herbaceous biennial plants (rarely short-lived perennial plants) growing to tall.