Along the W&OD bike path underneath the Dulles Toll Road one can find lots of this plant, a member of the teasel family (
Dipsacus spp.). There are two closely related species of teasel that occur in Fairfax County, common teasel (
D. fullonum) and cut-leave teasel (
D. laciniatus). Common teasel has bracts (the spines at the base of the seedhead) that curve upward, while cut-leave teasel has bracts that stick straight out; common teasel also has leaves that are basically entire, while cut-leave teasel has lobed leaves. Most distinctive, though, is that common teasel blooms pink to lavender, while cut-leave teasel blooms white - seems I missed the season to see this, though. Compare this
page from Illinois and this
one from Missouri. The seedheads from common teasel, incidentally, used to be used widely in "fulling" wool cloth, that is, napping or scratching it to raise a felt.
A look at some of the lower leaves on this teasel plant. The leaves are large and perfoliate, that is, entirely surrounding the stem, forming a cup in which rainwater may collect. These leaves do look more entire rather than lobed to me, so I think we may in fact be dealing with common teasel here.
A scenery shot, taken in the parking lot of 1801 Robert Fulton Drive, to show the progress of fall coloration in the red maples (
Acer rubrum) there.
One of several ornamental fruit trees that flank the entrance to the parking lot of 1801 Robert Fulton Drive.
These trees are now heavily in fruit. When you pierce the fruit with a fingernail, they don't pop open like a cherry, but rather have a firm texture like an apple; thus, I believe this is a crabapple (
Malus spp.). See this
Wikipedia article and this
Michigan State fact sheet.
