12.13.2017

One Photo: Dried Teasel Flower Head Has Benefits


I posted this image of a dried teasel flower head on my IG and Facebook feed and was quite surprised by a couple of informative comments from two "old" high school friends, and I was pleased that they enjoyed the photo.  Personally, I posted it because I like the exposure and the two-tone blurry background.

Dried Teasel Flower Head
Panasonic GX80/85 with Olympus 12-100 mm zoom @ 100mm (200 equiv)
1/250sec, F6.3, +1.3EV, ISO1600

The first comment was from a friend who processes wool for looming (is that such a word?)  She informed me that these flower heads were once used for carding wool.  I did some research (using google, of course) and found some images of one or more rows of dried teasel flower heads being held together in a frame of wood, with a handle for holding.  One arrangement, called a Teasel Cross looks like this, which my friend posted on my Facebook feed:

Teasel Cross

[Well, I guess this "one photo" post technically becomes a "two photo" post because of this second image.  However, the photo is here for documentary reasons, I did not take the photo, and I don't know who did.]
The other comment was from a friend suffering from chronic lyme disease.  She mentioned that teasel was used in the treatment of this disease.  From what I have read, it is the teasel root that holds the secret sauce. Though not an antibiotic, I read that the root is capable of changing the body's environment and that it can stimulate cells to dump lyme bacteria into the blood stream where the body can then detox it.  It appears that it may be an option for those whose condition has not been resolved with antibiotics.  [This sounds good in theory, but I did not find any information on how successful the treatment is, nor did I find any information about possible side effects.]

No comments: