Also listed as T. major, and there are various other common names, including goat’s-beard (of which the genus name “Tragopogon” is a literal translation into Greek) and oyster-flower. Two similar species of yellow Salsify grow in our area; this seems to be more common and prefers gravely waste places. The plants shown here were growing among the litter in a gravel roadside in Banksville. Fernald’s revised edition of Gray gives us a feature to look for to distinguish this species: “peduncle upwardly enlarged below the head.” The “peduncle” is the stem that carries the flower; note the way it swells toward the developing seedhead in the picture below.

The leaves are grasslike at the base of the plant, a bit broader along the stem; the flowers are followed by huge-dandelion-like seedheads nearly as big as a closed fist.