Burke: Tragopogon porrifolius vs. Tragopogon dubius

	Tragopogon porrifolius	Tragopogon dubius
	oyster plant, purple salsify	yellow salsify
Habit	Glabrous biennial, 4-10 dm. tall, often branched, with milky juice.	Biennial from a fleshy taproot, or occasionally annual, the stem usually branched, 3-10 dm. tall, the juice milky.
Leaves	Leaves elongate, up to 30 cm. long and 2 cm. wide, tapering gradually from the base.	Leaves elongate, uniformly tapering from base to apex, entire, not recurved, mostly glabrous but with some loose, wooly hairs in the axils.
Flowers	Heads solitary at the ends of branches, the peduncles enlarged and hollow under the heads; involucral bracts in a single series, equal, 5-11, 2.5-4 cm. long in flower, distinctly surpassing the purple, ligulate corollas, elongating to 4-7 cm. in fruit; pappus of a single series of whitish, uneven-length, plumose bristles, the plume branches interwebbed.	Heads solitary at the ends of branches, the peduncles enlarged and hollow under the heads; involucral bracts in a single series, equal, about 13, 2.5-4 cm. long in flower, distinctly surpassing the pale, lemon-yellow, ligulate corollas, elongating to 4-7 cm. in fruit; pappus of a single series of whitish, uneven-length, plumose bristles, the plume branches interwebbed.
Fruits	Achenes stout, 2.5-4 cm. long, the body 10-16 mm. long, abruptly contracted to the long, slender beak.	Achenes slender, 25-36 mm. long, gradually narrowed to the stout beak.

	Tragopogon porrifolius	Tragopogon dubius
Flowering time	April-August	May-September
Habitat	Roadsides, fields and waste places, usually where moist.	Roadsides, fields, meadows, wastelots, overgrazed areas, and other disturbed open areas at low to middle elevations.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Europe	Introduced from Europe
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	T. dubius, T. floccosus, T. mirus, T. miscellus, T. pratensis	T. floccosus, T. mirus, T. miscellus, T. porrifolius, T. pratensis
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Tragopogon porrifolius

Tragopogon dubius

oyster plant, purple salsify

yellow salsify

Habit

Glabrous biennial, 4-10 dm. tall, often branched, with milky juice.

Biennial from a fleshy taproot, or occasionally annual, the stem usually branched, 3-10 dm. tall, the juice milky.

Leaves

Leaves elongate, up to 30 cm. long and 2 cm. wide, tapering gradually from the base.

Leaves elongate, uniformly tapering from base to apex, entire, not recurved, mostly glabrous but with some loose, wooly hairs in the axils.

Flowers

Heads solitary at the ends of branches, the peduncles enlarged and hollow under the heads;

involucral bracts in a single series, equal, 5-11, 2.5-4 cm. long in flower, distinctly surpassing the purple, ligulate corollas, elongating to 4-7 cm. in fruit;

pappus of a single series of whitish, uneven-length, plumose bristles, the plume branches interwebbed.

Heads solitary at the ends of branches, the peduncles enlarged and hollow under the heads;

involucral bracts in a single series, equal, about 13, 2.5-4 cm. long in flower, distinctly surpassing the pale, lemon-yellow, ligulate corollas, elongating to 4-7 cm. in fruit;

pappus of a single series of whitish, uneven-length, plumose bristles, the plume branches interwebbed.

Fruits

Achenes stout, 2.5-4 cm. long, the body 10-16 mm. long, abruptly contracted to the long, slender beak.

Achenes slender, 25-36 mm. long, gradually narrowed to the stout beak.