Salsify

See also Aruncus, which is also known as "goatsbeard".

The Goatsbeards or Salsifies are the genus Tragopogon of flowering plants within the family Asteraceae. They include the vegetable called salsify as well as a number of common wild flowers, some of which are usually regarded as weeds.

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Goatsbeards 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 borne in a globe like that of a dandelion but larger, and are dispersed by the wind.

The goatsbeards are natives of Europe and Asia, but several species have been introduced into North America and Australia and have spread widely there.

Some of the more common species of Tragopogon are known, in the regions where they are most common, by the common names "goat's beard", "goatsbeard", "salsify" or "common salsify", without further qualification. These names are therefore inherently ambiguous, and best avoided, or reserved for the genus collectively. In the species list below, the first common name given is the one that seems to be most widely used for that species and is not in significant use for any other species.

The vegetable called salsify is usually the root of Purple Salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius; the root is described as having the taste of oysters (hence the alternative common name "Oyster Plant" for some species in this genus), but more insipid with a touch of sweetness. The young shoots of Purple Salsify can also be eaten. Other species are also used in the same way, including the Black or Spanish Salsify, Scorzonera hispanica, which is closely related though not a member of the genus Tragopogon.

The rise of new species

Goatsbeard are one example where hybrid speciation has been observed. In the early 1900s, humans introduced three species of goatsbeard into North America. These species, the Western Salsify (T. dubius), the Meadow Salsify (T. pratensis), and the Oyster Plant (T. porrifolius), are now common weeds in urban wastelands. In the 1950's, botanists found two new species in the regions of Idaho and Washington, where the three already known species overlapped. One new species, Tragopogon miscellus, is a tetraploid hybrid of T. dubius and T. pratensis. The other species, Tragopogon mirus, is also an allopolyploid, but its ancestors were T. dubius and T. porrifolius. These new species are usually referred to as "the Ownbey hybrids" after the botanist who first described them. The T. mirus population grows mainly by reproduction of its own members, but additional episodes of hybridization continue to add to the T. mirus population.

Some species of Goatsbeard

• Tragopogon coloratus
• Tragopogon crocifolius
• Tragopogon cupani
• Western Salsify, Western Goat's Beard, Wild Oysterplant, Yellow Salsify, Yellow Goat's Beard, Meadow Goat's Beard, Goat's Beard, Goatsbeard, Common Salsify, or Salsify, Tragopogon dubius
• Woolly Goatsbeard, Tragopogon floccosus
• Tragopogon gracilis
• Ontario Goatsbeard, Tragopogon mirabilis
• Remarkable Goatsbeard Tragopogon mirus
• Hybrid Goat's-beard or Moscow Salsify, Tragopogon miscellus
• Purple Salsify, Oyster Plant, Common Salsify, Goatsbeard or Salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius
• Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon or Meadow Salsify, Tragopogon pratensis
• Crantz's Salsify, Tragopogon X crantzii
• Newhybrid Salsify, Tragopogon X neohybridus

References

• Soltis, D. E., Soltis, P. S., Pires, J. C., Kovarik, A., Tate, J. A., & Mavrodiev, E. (2004). Recent and recurrent polyploidy in Tragopogon (Asteraceae): cytogenetic, genomic and genetic comparisons. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 82, 485-501.