Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

GOAT'S BEARD

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Tragopogon dubius Scop.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas

Biennial or short-lived perennial

Height: 1-3 feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Also Called:

Western salsify.

Stems:

Erect, 1 to several, sparingly branched, unevenly white-woolly when young, glabrous when mature; sap milky.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, sessile, clasping, narrowly linear, almost grass-like, to 12 inches long, mostly less than 1/4 inch wide, gradually tapered from bases to tips; margins entire.

Inflorescences:

Heads, solitary, to 2 inches wide, terminal, on long, hollow stalks expanded just below heads; bracts usually 13, linear-lanceolate, 1 to 1.5 inch long, exceeding ray florets, bending downward at maturity.

Flowers:

Florets numerous, ray-like, around 1 inch long, pale yellow.

Fruits:

Achenes, slender, 1 to 1.5 inch long, tapering into stout beaks, brown, tipped with numerous, white to off-white, feather-like bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Disturbed sites, roadsides, edges of grain fields, and waste areas.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Forage Value:

Livestock graze goat's beard when it is immature.

Uses:

The edible roots are said to have the flavor of parsnip or oysters, and the milky latex was chewed as gum.

Comments:

The fruiting head resembles a giant dandelion, with a large white puffball of plumed seeds. The common name "goat's beard" is an allusion to the hair-like bristles that top each achene. It is not an aggressive weed.

Goat's beard inflorescence