Yellow salsify

Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.

Scientific name: Tragopogon dubius Scop.

Common name(s): yellow salsify, western salsify, common salsify, goatsbeard, yellow goat’s beard, western goat’s beard, fistulous goat’s beard, wild oyster plant

Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, Go Botany

Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)

Description:

– annual/biennial

– flowers close at midday unless cloudy

– flower bracts are longer than flower rays

-large fruits with a feathery pappus for dispersal

-leaves are

  • simple
  • alternate

– may be confused with T. pratensis; see left sidebar of Go Botany webpage

Habitat:

-disturbed sites

-meadows

-fields

Natural History:

-native to Europe

-introduced to North America in the 1900s

 

Sources:

Go Botany. “Tragopogon Dubius Scop.” Tragopogon Dubius (Fistulous Goat’s Beard, Yellow Salsify): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/tragopogon/dubius/.