I see a lot of these in our area & have always thought they were a variety of cattails, but after doing a little googling (I tried image searches based on variations of "spiky plants" & eventually found them, after weeding (excuse the pun) through a lot of cacti) determined that they are known as teasel. From Wikipedia: "Dipsacus is a genus of flowering plant in the family Dipsacaceae. The members of this genus are known as teasel or teazel or teazle. The genus includes about 15 species of tall herbaceous biennial plants (rarely short-lived perennial plants) growing to 1–2.5 metres (3.3–8.2 ft) tall. Dipsacus are native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Teasel is also considered an invasive species in the United States. It is known to form a monoculture, capable of crowding out all native plant species, and therefore is discouraged and/or eliminated within restored open lands and other conservation areas." I have one more shot of these that I will post tomorrow that will demonstrate visually how prolific & invasive they can be...