June 9, 2010

Yellow Goat's Beard


Only on sunny mornings the flowers of Yellow Goat's Beard (Tragopogon pratensis) do open.


Here is one with some visitors.



















Like other members of the family of Asteraceae, the Yellow Goat's Beard produces seeds with a fluffy umbrella to be carried away on the wind. The flowerheads have changed now into fuzzy tennis balls.














They are so large you can distinguish the small features of each umbrella. It has a seed for a handle, and the ribs are woven together with thin, spiderweb-like tissue.