Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Tragopogon porrifolius subsp. porrifolius

Flower head. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Cooma

Partly open flower head. Photographer Zoya Akulova, California, USA

Flowering plant. Photographer JC Schou, Denmark

Line drawing. USDA NRCS PLANTS database. Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 3: 313.

Common name

Salsify, Oyster plant

Family

Asteraceae

Where found

Grassland, roadsides, and wasteland. Mainly Sydney, Canberra, and the tablelands. Occasional elsewhere.

Notes

Introduced annual or biennial herb to about 1.3 m high. Hairless, sometimes glaucous. Basal leaves 5–30 cm long, 10–20 mm wide, grass-like, linear, half-sheathing at the base, tips pointed. Stem leaves alternating up the stems, 3–30 cm long, up to 10 mm wide, bases stem-clasping, tips pointed. Flower heads with many lilac to deep violet or purple  'petals', each as long as or slightly shorter than bracts. Flower heads 5-12 mm in diameter below the ‘petals’. 5–8 bracts appressed to and surrounding the flower heads, each 25–60 mm long. Flower heads open only for a short time in the morning. Flowering: mostly Oct–Jan. Root edible.

PlantNET description:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Tragopogon~porrifolius (accessed 23 March, 2021)