204 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



A.S. tfesan, from its use in teasing wool. The second name denotes a 

 woodland habitat. 



It is called Adam's Flannel, Barber's Brushes, Brushes, Sweep's 

 Brushes, Card Teazel, Card Thistle, Churchbrooms, Gipsy's Combs, 

 Pricky Back, Tazzel, Teasel, Venus Bath or Basin. The last name 

 is explained thus by Lyte: " It is termed Labrum Veneris and Laver 

 Lavacrum of the forme of the leaves, made up in fashion of a bason, 

 which is never without water." The name Carde Thistle is explained 

 by Gerarde thus: " In some of our Northern Counties large quantities 

 of the Teazel are planted that there heads may be used in Carding 

 wool ". This may refer to the Fuller's Teazel. 



It was named Church Brooms from the resemblance of the flower- 

 heads in shape to the long " turk's head brooms used for sweeping 

 high places ". 



" Tezils or Fuller's thistle, being gathered and hanged up in house, 

 where the air may come freely to it, upon the alteration of cold and 

 windy weather will grow smoother and against rain will close up its 

 prickles." 



In the old days it was held to have healing virtues, the water 

 caught up in the connate leaf-base being said to be good for bad eye- 

 sight, and called virga pastoris in Chaucer's day. It formed part of the 

 remedy " Save " also. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



147. Dipsacus sylvestris, Huds. Stem tall, stout, erect, prickly, 

 leaves prickly along the midrib, lanceolate, connate, opposite, flowers 

 lilac, scales of receptacle straight, longer than flowers, involucres 

 curved upwards. 



Hoary Ragwort (Senecio erucifolius, L.) 



This species is found in the North Temperate Zone to-day to the 

 South of Gothland, and in N. and W. Asia. In Great Britain it is 

 found in the Peninsula, Channel, Thames, Anglia, and Severn pro- 

 vinces; in Wales it is found in Glamorgan, Pembroke, Carnarvon, 

 Denbigh, Flint, Anglesea, and in the Trent, Mersey, H umber, Tyne 

 provinces, and in Cumberland, Lanark, Ayr, and Berwick. The Hoary 

 Ragwort occurs in E. Ireland and the Channel Islands. It is common 

 in S. Britain, but very rare in Scotland. 



Hoary Ragwort is a familiar wild flower of the roadside, where 

 it is accompanied by such plants as Knapweed, Nipplewort, Wild 

 Basil, and the many other plants of the wayside, which grow there 



