Cutleaf teasel

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Cutleaf teasel flowers

Cutleaf teasel joined leaf bases

Cutleaf teasel inflorescence

Cutleaf teasel leaves

Cutleaf teasel

Cutleaf teasel

Morphology

Stem

Erect, stout, rough-hairy, longitudinally ridged.

Leaves

Opposite; basal leaves irregularly cleft; stem leaves once or twice pinnately-divided into stalkless segments; segments not distinct leaflets; margins more or less bristly-fringed; bases of each pair of leaves joined, forming cup-like structure.

Inflorescence

Heads, dense, egg-shaped to cylindrical, 1 to 4 inches tall, 1 to 2 inches wide, terminal on long stalks; involcural bracts mostly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1 to 4.5 inches long, 1/8 to 1/2 inch wide, mostly shorter than mature head, spreading or curved upward, spine-tipped.

Flower

Calyx small, cup-like; corolla funnelform, about 1/2 inch long, unequally 4-lobed, whitish; stamens 4, projecting conspicuously beyond corolla; bract subtending each flower rigid, long-tapering.

Fruit

Achene, 1/8 inch long, crowned by calyx; seed 1, hairy, grayish-brown.

Ecology

Habitat

Waste areas, weedy pastures, wet ditches, and roadsides.

Distribution

Principally east 1/2 of Kansas.

Additional Notes