TRAGOPOGON. 



Waldft. et Kitaib. Hung, t — " Calyx nearly equal 



to the corolla. Flower-ftalks woolly. Leaves linear, 

 ftraight." — Found in meadows in Hungary. Biennial. 

 Stem much branched and divaricated. Leaves ribbed, not 

 undulated. Calyx, Jloiver-flalks, and younger branches, 

 ..lothed with white woolly down. Corolla pale yellow. 

 Willdenoiv. 



6. T. major. Great Goat's-beard. Jacq. Auftr. v. I . 

 19. t. 29. Willd. n. 6. Ait. n. 4. Marfch. von Bieberft. 

 Taur.-Caucaf. v. 2. 233. — Calyx longer than the corolla. 

 Leaves tapering, ftraight. Flower-ftalks fwelling upward. 



Florets rounded at the tip Native of meadows, vineyards, 



cYc. in Germany and Auftria, as well as near Branfon, in 

 Switzerland, where it was found flowering in Auguft, by 

 the late Mr. Davall, who fent its feeds to Kew in 1788, and 

 whofe own ipecimen is now before us. The gradual dilata- 

 tion of \\\^ jlower-Jlalks upward, the great fize of tliejloiuers, 

 at leaft of their calyx, which extends much beyond the co- 

 rolla, and confifts of a greater number of leaves than the ge- 

 neric charafter requires, even as many as twelve or thirteen ; 

 thefe circumftances led Jacquin to confider the prefent plant 

 as a diftindl fpecies from T. pratenfis, or at leaft as a re- 

 markable variety. We believe it remains conftant from 

 feed. Some of the preceding are but too nearly akin, or 

 this ought to ftand next to the pratenfis. 



7. T. porrifollus. Purple Goat's-beard, or Salfafie. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 1 110. Willd. n. 7. Fl. Brit. n. 2. Engl. 

 Bot. t. 638. Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 159. Fl. Dan. t. 797. 

 (T. purpureum ; Ger. Em. 73J. T. alterum ; Matth. 

 Valgr. v. I. 491.) — Calyx almoft twice as long as the co- 

 rolla. Florets tapering, abrupt. Leaves ftraight. Flower- 

 ftalks fwelling upwards Native of meadows in Switzer- 

 land, Germany, England, and about Conftantinople, 

 flowering in May and June. Cultivated in the kitchen gar- 

 dens of the more opulent, the roots being efteemed a deli- 

 cacy, and known by the name of Salfafie. They refemble 

 Scorzonera hifpanica, and have a fweetifh delicate flavour, 

 when dreffed v^^th cream, but are efteemed chiefly for the 

 fake of variety. This plant having been perhaps more cul- 

 tivated when efculent vegetables were fewer in England, has 

 become naturalized in various fituations, chiefly of a low or 

 moiii defcription. We have alluded to it above as the true 

 Tf j;>o7ra').Bv of the Greeks. The herb is biennial, ereft, glau- 

 cous, fmooth, four or five feet high. Leaves llightly, or 

 not at all, wavy. Floivers of a violet-purple, with black 

 anthers ; they clofe before noon. Linnsus, in his Difler- 

 tation on the Sexes of Plants, Enghfh ed. 54, relates that 

 he obtained a mule plant, by fprinkling the Jligmas of T. 

 pratenfis with the pollen of the prefent fpecies. The pro- 

 geny of the feeds had purple flowers, yellow at the bafe, 

 evidently of an intermediate nature between the two parents ; 

 nor can any thing, as Linnaeus obferves, more decidedly 

 evince the generation of plants. 



8. T. angujlifolius. Narrow-leaved Goat's-beard. " Bel- 

 lardi MSS." Willd. n. 8.—" Calyx of eight leaves, longer 

 than the corolla. Leaves ftraight, fmooth." — Found near 

 Nice. Biennial. Like T. croclfolius, but the calyx confifts 

 of eight leaves, and the follageh entirely fmooth at the bafe. 

 The^«n is but four inches high. Willdenotu. We are not 

 fure whether one of our fpecimeus from Dauphiny be re- 

 ferrible to this fpecies. It is hardly three inches high ; the 



foliage quite fmooth and naked throughout ; but the calyx 

 has only fix leaves. Another from the fame country feems 

 intermediate between it and crocifelius. The fpecies of 

 few genera are lefs fatisfadorily defined than thofe of 

 Tragopogon. 



9. T. croclfolius. Crocus-leaved Goat's-beard.' Linn. 



Sp. PI. mo. Willd. n. 9. Ait. n. 6. Sm. Fl. Grsec 

 Sibth. t. 779, unpubliflied. (T. crocifolium monta- 

 num, flore nigro-purpureo ; Column. Ecphr. v. i. t. 230.) 

 — Calyx longer than the corolla. Leaves tapering ; loofely 



woolly at the bafe on the upper fide Native of Italy, the 



fouth of France, and the ifle of Cyprus. Miller is faid to 

 have cultivated this fpecies, but we do not remember to have 

 met with it in gardens. The root is tapering and biennial, 

 like all the reft of this feftion. The fern is fcarcely above 

 a foot high, branched, nearly or quite fmooth, clothed with 

 numerous, narrow, fpreading, drooping, white-ribbed leaves, 

 very remarkable for a quantity of loofe, ftiaggy, cottony 

 wool, about their bafe on the upper fide, which is fometimes 

 found alfo on the branches znAfloiuer-falks. Flowers of a 

 violet -purple, with yellow Jligmas and blackifli anthers ; their 

 forets more fpreading than in T. porrifollus, and their calyx 

 greatly deflexed, twice as long as the corolla, confifting of 

 from five to eight acute leaves. Columna reprefents five 

 broad ones only ; Dr. Sibthorp found eight, which are nar- 

 rower. The humble ftature of the plant, and its woolly 

 leaves, afford its moft ftriking diftinftions. The feeds are 

 beautifully adorned with afcending fcales, which prevent 

 their efcaping, when once lodged in the earth, the agitation 

 of their feathery wings, by the wind, ferving only to force 

 them further down, till each wing flirivels at its bafe, and 

 eafily breaks off". The fame economy is apparent in other 

 fpecies of this and fimilar genera, but peculiarly admirable 

 in that before us. It is analogous to what has been obferved 

 in the firft fpecies of Stipa ; fee that article. 



10. T. villofus. Hairy-Goat's-beard. Linn. Sp. PI. 



T 1 10. Willd. n. 10. Ait. n. 433 Calyx longer than the 



corolla. Stem much branched, corymbofe, clothed, like 

 the bafes of the ovato-lanceolatc leaves, with fhaggy wool. 

 — Native of Spain and Siberia ; introduced at Kew, in 

 1794, by Mr. Hunnemann. ^oo< biennial. i/«-i as tall as 

 T. porrifollus, but the Jlcm is very much more branched, and 

 more (lender, clothed with loofe, fcattered, cottony wool, 

 as well as with numerous, fliort, ovato -lanceolate, pointed 

 leaves, thofe about the corymbofe upper part of the ftem 

 meafuring from one and a half to two inches in length. 

 Flowers a little drooping, pale yellow, rather fmaller than 

 thofe of porrifollus, on cylindrical rtriated italks. Calyx of 

 about nine leaves, nearly half as long again as the corolla, 

 j^nthers brownifti. Rays of the feed-down rough, very 

 woolly, with long, naked, taper points. This, at leaft, is 

 an unqueftionably dilHndl fpecies. 



Y or Tragopogon virginicum, Linn. Sp. PI. 1 1 1 1. {Hyoferis 

 prenanthoides of Willd. Sp. PI. v. 3. 161 5.), as well as the 

 two il:emlefs fpecies of Linnaeus and Willdenow, fee 

 Troximon. 



Other Linnxan fpecies are feparated, as we have already 

 faid, into a no lefs diftinA and natural genus, for which we 

 here retain Willdenow's name. 



Aknopogon. This word is compofed of a.^c, aj»oi, a 

 lamb, and •jtu-.w/, a beard, alluding to the peculiarly white, 



foft, and denfe wooUinefs which crowns the feeds Willd. 



Sp. PI. v. 3. 1496. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 4. 433. Sm. 

 Prodr. Fl. Graec. Sibth. v. 2. 121. (Urofpermum ; Juff. 

 170. Tragopogon picroides et Dalechampii ; Gsrtn. 

 t. 159. Tragopogon; Lamarck lUuftr. t. 646. f. 2, 3.) 

 — Clafs and order, Syngenefia P olygamia-^rjualis . Nat. Ord. 

 Compofite femiflofculnfdt, Linn. Cichoracee, Jufl". 



Gen. Ch. Common Calyx fimple, of one leaf, ovate, tu- 

 mid at the bafe, deeply divided into eight equal, lanceolate 

 fegments. Cor. compound, imbricated, uniform. Florets 

 numerous, all perfeft, of ow^ petal, ligiilate, abrupt, wiih 

 five teeth ; their tubes about the length of the calyx. Stam. 



Filaments, 



