68 



FLOWERS OF THE FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



Goat's Beard is very largely a clay plant, and addicted to a clay 

 soil, but will also grow on sandy loam, especially on cultivated ground. 

 It is abundant on Triassic, Liassic, and Glacial clay and sands. 



The fungus Ustilago tragopogi converts the inflorescence into a 

 black powdery mass; Puccinia tragopogi, Cystopus tragopogonis, and 

 Bremia lactuci? are other fungi pests. A moth, The Mouse, Am- 

 phipyra tragopogonis, and a fly, U re Ilia stellata, also attack it. 



Tragopogon, Dioscor- 

 ides, is from the Greek 

 tragos, goat, and pogon, 

 a bearcl, because of the 

 bearded fruit, and the 

 second Latin name re- 

 fers to the habitat, a 

 meadow. 



Buck's-beard, Shep- 

 herd's Clock, Gait-berde, 

 Goat's Beard, Go-to- 

 bed-at-noon, Jack-by- 

 the- hedge, John-go-to- 

 bed-at-noon, Joseph's 

 Flower, Nap-at-noon, 

 Noontide, Sleep-at-noon, 

 Star of Jerusalem are 

 some of its common 

 names. Of the name 

 Go-to-bed-at-noon says 

 Gerarcle: "It shutteth 

 it-selfe at twelve of the 

 clock, and sheweth not 

 his face open until the 

 Wherefore it was called 



Photo. H. 



GOAT'S BEARD (Tragopogon pratense, L.) 



next daies sunne do make it flower anew 

 Go-to-bed-at-noon." 



Joseph's Flower was a name given to it, according to J. C. Hare, 

 because of the pictures representing Joseph, the husband cf Mary, 

 as a long-bearded man. 



Bishop Mant says of the first name: 



And goodly now the noon tide hour, 

 When from his high meridian tower 

 The sun looks down in majesty, 

 What time about the grassy lea 



