Back on May 2, I noticed these buds in the front yard. The stocks were a good 2 feet tall. I thought perhaps these were flowers. Silly me.
This afternoon I noticed the center bud had popped open to reveal a giant seed ball.
By late afternoon the half-ball had become a full ball of nearly 4 inches in diameter.
Don't know if I want this weed's zillions of seeds blowing around the neighborhood, but I enjoyed the show.Day 154 of 365
6 comments:
I don't know what those are called, I wish I knew.
When we lived in Denver, I'd see those all the time, especially on my noontime walks on a path next to a creek. I remember how they would just "magically" appear, and I tried (without success) to remember what the plant looked like. I suspect they're in the same family as dandelions.
The day after I took the photo, all of the seeds were gone and the stalk was bare. Didn't expect such large seeds could take flight so easily.
I remember now, they would disappear very quickly, like in a day or two.
I don't recall ever actually seeing the flower stage, either. I always wanted to. I always imagined that they would be yellow, similar to a dandelion.
Aha! Google is our friend.
They are called "salsifies" or "goatsbeards". There's also a root vegetable called salsify, which strangely enough is in the same family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsify
The flower is purple, requires full sun, and is open only for a very short time.
Google Images have some nice
Eh, got cut off.
Google Images has some nice examples.
Ray, Thanks for the research.
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