A plant, of the genus Dipsacus, of which one species (D. fullonum) bears a large flower head covered with stiff, prickly, hooked bracts
a plant with leaves and flowers that feel sharp when you touch them. Any of about 15 species constituting the genus Dipsacus of the family Dipsacaceae (the teasel family), native to Europe, the Mediterranean area, and tropical Africa. Many teasels are prickly, coarse biennials with tall-domed heads of numerous, four-lobed flowers that sit on a crownlike circle of spiny, narrow bracts. The spiny, dry fruiting heads of fuller's teasel (D. sativus) have been used since Roman times to raise the nap of woolen fabrics in a process known as fulling
To subject, as woolen cloth, to the action of teasels, or any substitute for them which has an effect to raise a nap