There are several species of teasel. One is called small-headed teasel and it is not as suitable for carding wool.
But it should also be remembered that there are two kinds of "carding"...
The first and most important is carding the
raw wool to align the fibers. If you don't do this, you can't spin it—it will tangle and break. You can see how willy-nilly the fibers are in this pic [photo credit Alix Kroeger, Wikimedia] before the fibers are carded:
Here is a woman carding the raw wool with the comb-like carding paddles that replaced teasel paddles after metal manufacture became easier [image credit TripAdvisor]:
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view."
-------------------------------------------
The second sense of the word is not really "carding" in the same way as carding raw wool, although some languages use the same word. The
brushing of the fibers AFTER it is spun, to remove lint and little bumps that sometimes form on the newly woven fabric (or to raise or even out the nap) can also be done with teasel heads, and since it is a much gentler process, probably any kind of teasel or spiny plant can be used.
For real "carding" (pre-weaving), however, Fuller's teasel is best. So good, in fact, that it took a few decades before they found a way to replace the teasel heads with machined parts or metal paddles—the natural product did such a good job.