Jack Go To Bed At Noon
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Passed with full marks as far as I'm concerned! xx
ReplyDeleteHey VP .. it looks pretty darn GOOD to me ! ... watch any more Dr. Who lately ? .. we still haven't seen what you have seen, plus I'm waiting till next month for Corry to be on its regular time (one part of hockey I hate is the playoffs that screw that up) .. I love that series Jekyll .. haven't sen anything of season 2 .. is there one ?
ReplyDeleteJoy
Looks neat and organized--I think you've got 'em fooled.
ReplyDelete--kate
Flighty - I'm good at disguising the weedy bits!
ReplyDeleteJoy - Looks better now I've started tackling the weeds. I'll come on over and whisper to you re Dr Who...
Kate - I do hope so!