Salsify's beautifully symmetrical flower gives way to a huge, puffy silver/white seed head which is really more well known than the flower.  Salsify’s roots are edible and for this reason it was introduced to America by early Europeans and has since spread widely.  In the Four Corners area Salsify is common in wild areas, farm fields, and city lots.  Leaves are narrow and long, plants are straight and up to several feet tall, and flowers open from spring into fall.

"Tragos" is Greek for "goat" and "pogon" for "beard", thus giving another common name, "Goat’s Beard".

The genus was named by Linnaeus in 1753 and this species was first collected near the Adriatic Sea.

In the bottom photograph at left, two vertical, brown seeds are topped by pappus hairs that carry them on the wind.

Tragopogon pratensis occupies slightly higher altitudes than T. dubius, its ray flower are flattened and serrated at the tip, and the phyllaries (as shown in the photographs below) are edged in maroon.  Both species are found in many U.S. states and they are generally considered noxious weeds.

Stems often have a reddish tinge on the sheath where the leaves arch outward. (Those are Wild Strawberries with the white flowers and three-parted leaves.)

Linnaeus named this species in 1753.

Tragopogon pratensis (Salsify)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)
Foothills, montane. Openings, woodlands, fields. Spring, summer, fall.
Ryman Creek Trail, June 13, 2007.

Notice that the green and maroon phyllaries of this species of Tragopogon are the same length as the ray flower petals, in contrast to the very long, green phyllaries of T. dubious.  Also notice the difference in the ray flower petals: those of T. pratensis are wide and blunt-tipped.