GENUS 12. 



CHICORY FAMILY. 



3'3 



12. TRAGOPOGON [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 789. 1753. 



Biennial or perennial, erect usually branched, somewhat succulent herbs, with slender 

 fleshy tap-roots, alternate entire linear-lanceolate long-acuminate leaves, clasping at the base, 

 and long-peduncled large heads of yellow or purple flowers, opening in the early morning, 

 usually closed by noon. Involucre cylindric or narrowly campanulate, its bracts in i series, 

 nearly equal, acuminate, united at the base. Rays truncate and 5-toothed at the apex. Anthers 

 sagittate at the base. Style-branches slender. Achenes linear, terete, or 5-angled, 5-io-ribbed, 

 terminated by slender beaks, or the outermost beakless. Pappus-bristles in i series, plumose, 

 connate at the base, the plume-branches interwebbed. [Greek, goats-beard.] 



About 35 species, natives of the Old World. Type species : Tragopogon pratensis L. 



Flowers yellow ; involucral bracts equalling or shorter than the rays. 

 Flowers purple ; involucral bracts much longer than the rays. 



1 . T. pratensis. 



2. T. porrifolius. 



i. Tragopogon pratensis L. Yellow 



Goat's-beard. Meadow Salsify. 



Fig. 4058. 



Tragopogon pratensis L. Sp. PI. 789. 1753. 



Stem branched, ii-3 high. Leaves keeled, 

 tapering from the broad, more or less clasping 

 base to a very long acuminate tip, the lower 

 sometimes 10' long and i' wide; peduncles 

 thickened at the top ; heads i'-2i' broad ; bracts 

 of the involucre about 8, lanceolate, acuminate, 

 shorter than or equalling (rarely exceeding) 

 the yellow rays; marginal achenes striate, 

 smooth or roughened. 



In fields and waste places, Nova Scotia to New 

 Jersey, Ontario, Ohio, Manitoba and Colorado. 

 Naturalized from Europe. June-Oct. Called also 

 buck's-beard, noon-flower, star-of-jerusalem, noon- 

 tide, Joseph's flower, go-to-bed-at-noon. 



2. Tragopogon porrifolius L. Oyster 



Plant. Salsify. Purple Goat's-beard. 



Fig. 4059. 



Tragopogon porrifolius L. Sp. PI. 789. 1753. 



Taller, sometimes 4* high. Peduncles very 

 much thickened and hollow for i to 3 inches 

 below the heads ; heads 2'-^' broad, very showy ; 

 bracts of the involucre linear-lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, usually much longer than the purple rays ; 

 achenes sometimes 2' long, the outer ones covered 

 with scale-like tubercles, especially on the ribs 

 below. 



In fields and waste places, Ontario to New Jersey, 

 Virginia, Minnesota, British Columbia, Nebraska and 

 California, mostly escaped from gardens, where it is 

 common. Native of Europe. Called also vegetable 

 oyster, Jerusalem-star, nap-at-noon, oyster-root. Nat- 

 uralized as a weed on the Pacific Coast. The 

 root is the familiar vegetable known as oyster-plant. 

 An apparent hybrid between this and the preceding 

 species has been noticed at New Brunswick, N. J. 

 June-Oct. 



