The Teasels are flowering - all around the gravel pits and on the rough ground and that means summer.
They are a type of thistle but they grow to four or five feet high.
The flowers come in a band running through the flower head which then dries out leaving a tough seed head which lasts until the next year.
Once, this was a very valuable industrial crop. Britain always produced highly sort after wool (traded for French wine mainly) but before weaving became an industrial process most wool ended up as a poor felt cloth. To be of any use at all it had to be 'teased out' to open up the fibres so that they trapped air. To do this they used Teasels, collected over autumn.
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
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