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common salsify, oyster plant, purple goat's beard, purple oyster salsify, purple salsify, salsifis cultivé, salsify, vegetable oyster

Habit Plants 40–100(–150) cm.
Leaves

apices straight (not recurved or coiled), faces usually glabrous.

Peduncles

distally inflated.

Involucres

conic in bud.

Outer

florets usually shorter than or equaling phyllaries;

corollas purple.

2n

= 12.

Tragopogon porrifolius

Phenology Flowering Apr–Aug.
Habitat Disturbed sites
Elevation 200–2000 m (700–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; QC; Europe; n Africa; Australia [Introduced in North America; introduced, Pacific Islands (Hawaii)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Tragopogon porrifolius is occasionally cultivated in Europe and naturalized across much of North America. It grows typically in sites drier than those of T. pratensis and in sites shadier and/or moister than those of T. dubius. As currently circumscribed, it may not be monophyletic, and nomenclatural changes for the populations here may be required. In North America, T. porrifolius hybridizes with both T. dubius and T. pratensis (= T. ×neohybridus Farwell, described from North America, and T. ×mirabilis Rouy, described from Europe).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 306.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Cichorieae > Tragopogon
Sibling taxa
T. dubius, T. mirus, T. miscellus, T. pratensis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 789. (1753)
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