Prickly weed creates drama in landscape

Nothing teems

But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs,

Losing both beauty and utility.

-- William Shakespeare, "King Henry V," Act 5

The Duke of Burgundy came up with a good metaphor for the situation in France, during a brief period of relative peace with England, following the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The brutal Hundred Years' War was ravaging France, and even the landscape was starting to look bad: The neglected fields and meadows were full of weeds, nettles and thistles.

A "kecksie" is an old word most often used for various rough, stickery weeds, and brings to mind thistles, briers and brambly interlopers. Being coarse and prickly, our Mystery Plant would be a good example although it is not related to thistles as much as it is to garden scabiosa.

This unmistakable weed is native to Europe and Asia. It is a true biennial species in that it takes two growing seasons for it to bloom. Its first year after sprouting is spent in developing a cluster or rosette of basal leaves. The branching flowering stem develops the second year and sometimes reaches 6 feet tall. The stems are prickly, and so are the sword-shaped leaves, which occur in pairs up and down the stem. The flowers are small with a purple or pale pink tubular corolla. Several hundred flowers will be congested into a tight head, which can be 4 to 5 inches long, and equipped with long, prickly spines at the bottom.

In the summer, the flowers begin blooming at the midlevel of the head and open progressively in two directions, toward the top and toward the base. Bees and butterflies love the flowers, and after they fade and the plants dry, the prickly cones remain. In the fall and winter, the dried-up plants make dramatic accents on the landscape.

This kecksie was scattered around the world, including Australia and North America, after its original introduction. In fact, the dried seed heads once were used for combing (or "teasing") wool. In the Southeast, it is most likely to be seen from the Ohio River Valley down through the Appalachians, usually at relatively high elevations.

This week's mystery plant is: "Teasel," Dipsacus fullonum.

John Nelson is the curator of the Herbarium at the University of South Carolina. Visit www.herbarium.org.