Salsify

Salsify is a flowering plant which is also known as goatsbeard. It belongs to Tragopogon in the family Asteraceae, which has more than 140 kinds. It also includes a vegetable which is called salsify and also many ordinary wild flowers and weeds. They grow in pairs. They have milky liquid and powerful taproots. Mostly they have only some upward twigs. Their leaves resemble grass. The colour of its flowers differs from yellow to purple or bronze. It bears its seeds in a dandelion shaped-like globe which are sprinkled by the wind. The origin of this flowering plant is in Asia and Europe but quite a lot of kinds are also found in Australia and North America. Some ordinary kinds of Tragopogon are found in abundance  in some areas where they are known as goatsbeard, ordinary salsify and goat’s beard with no more details. Acanthocarpus is the most well known name for this kind and it is not important for other kinds. This vegetable is the root of purple

colour kind of this plant, Tragopogon porifolius. This root somewhat tastes like oyster and is a bit sweet. Oyster plant is yet another name of this vegetable because of having the flavour of oyster. Its small leaves and stems are also taken in and enjoyed. Its many other kinds like Scorzonera hispanica are also edible. Scorzonera hispanica belongs to another genus of the same family, Asteraceae. Three kinds of goatsbeard were introduced by humans in the continent of North America in the start of the 20th century. These were western (T.dubius), meadow (T.pratensis) and oyster (T.porifolius) salsify which are ordinary bushes in the wastelands of the city.