These are the overwintered seed-heads of teasel. You can see that it's a very thorny plant. It's a biennial, it takes two years to achieve its full growth. It's very unusual, because the leaves make these little saucers, and you can see that it holds the water there, and it has this thorns on the stalk.

This is Dipsacus, and it's a biennial plant. So this is the first year of its growth, and this is what it looks like in the -- this is the second year coming up to flower, and the first year plants are down low, and this is what it looked like last year when it was flowering.

So these plants that are coming up to flower are little too old, because what we want to harvest is the root of the first year plant. We make a tincture of that. There is few herbalists, one of my past apprentices, Lady Barbara, who has had Lyme disease five times, and she says that the tincture of teasel root has been the primary herbal ally that has gotten her over that Lyme disease. And also my friend Mathew Wood says that teasel root, in his experience, is the herb that is most supportive for helping people who have Lyme disease to move through their problem.

Teasel is not a very common plant. You are going to have to look hard to find teasel. Even in areas where it grows, it grows in small patches like this. The next patch that I know is about 25 miles away from here. But keep your eyes open. If you are somebody who is dealing with Lyme disease or suffering from Lyme disease, teasel root tincture harvested from the first year plant, not these big tall ones, but the small ones, might be the ally you are looking for.

Green Blessings from Susun Weed.