Tragopogon

Tragopogon, also known as goatsbeard or salsify, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It includes the vegetable known as salsify, as well as a number of common wild flowers. Salsifies are forbs growing as biennial or perennial plants. They have a strong taproot and milky sap. They generally have few branches, and those there are tend to be upright. Their leaves are somewhat grass-like. Flower colour varies within the genus, with some yellow species, and some bronze or purple. Seeds are achenes and are borne in a globe like that of a dandelion but larger, and are dispersed by the wind. The salsifies are mostly natives of Europe and Asia, but several species have been introduced into North America and Australia and have spread widely there. There is one species sometimes considered native to North America, Tragopogon mirus, but it is in fact a hybrid of two non-native species. Some of the more common species of Tragopogon are known, in the regions where they are......read more on Wikipedia.