64 



TREES AND FLOWERS OF 



(yellow or purple) (orange) 



GOATSBEARD 



GOAT DANDELION 



Groatsbeard (Tragopogon) . This plant is the same 

 as the salsify or vegetable oyster of the gardens. It 

 is apparently an escape from cultivation, for it is 

 found only in the neighborhood of the buildings at 

 Mammoth Hot Springs, but it is very abundant there. 

 The stem grows to a height of about a foot ; it is some- 

 what leafy, and there are also leaves in a group at 

 the base. These are shaped somewhat like broad blades 

 of grass, thick and rather limp. Stem and leaves alike 

 have a sort of bluish-green bloom. The flowerhead 

 looks a good deal like an enormous dandelion. It is 

 either yellow or purple, and is followed by a great ball 

 of plumed seeds similar to a dandelion seed-head, but 

 four inches or so in diameter. 



Goat-Dandelion {Troximori). This is another 

 dandelion-like plant, growing in fairly moist, open or 

 partly-shaded places on the park plateau. The leaves 

 are grouped into a basal rosette like that of the dande- 

 lion; they are lance-shaped, tapering off into short 

 stalks. The flower-stalks are naked and smooth like 

 those of the dandelion, and the yellow flowerheads 

 also resemble dandelion blooms but are somewhat 

 larger. There is also a second variety of the plant with 

 smaller heads of an orange-brown color. 



