Plants 1 m or more tall. Stem stout, striate, often spiny at the ridges. Cauline leaves broadly lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, entire or sinuate, midrib spiny beneath. Capitula ovoid to cylindrical, 4-4.5 cm long. Involucral bracts unequal, linear, 1.6-6 cm long; receptacular ones shorter, pubescent with a recurved and hooked apex. Flowers pale lilac.

Fl.Per.: June-July.

Type: Described from France.

Distribution: Cultivated in C. and S. Europe, Russian Asia, Caucasus, Iran and Pakistan.

The ‘teasel’ is cultivated. The dried plants yield a blue dye. The floral scales are used for teasing or raising the nap on woolen cloth. The wild plant Dipsacus fullonum L. is distinguished from it by the straight and not hooked receptacular bract tips.