T R A G O P O G O N porrifolius.
Purple Goat's-beard.
S Y l VGENE S I A Polygdmid-tzqualis.
G en. Char. Recept. naked. Cal. Ample, of many
leaves. Down feathered.
Spec. Char. Calyx half as long again as the corolla.
Leaves entire, ftraight. Flower-ftalk fwelling
upwards.
Syn. Tragopogon porrifolium. Linn. Sp. PI. m o .
Hudf. 335. With. 672. Hull. 172.
T. purpureum. Rail Syn. 171. Ger. ern. 735.
G a t h e r e d by Mr. Sowerby in the meadows below St.
Vincent’s rocks, Briftol. It is biennial, and flowers in May
and June.
Root long, tapering. Whole plant abounding with a milky
juice, which foon turns to a brown refin, from the evaporation
of its watery particles. Herb fmooth, glaucous, about 4 feet
high. Stem round, eredt, branching, leafy. Leaves lanceolate,
fcarcely at all undulated, ending in a tapering ftraight point.
Flowers terminal, folitary, the ftalk which fupports them
tapering from the calyx downwards. Calyx-leaves equal,
linear-lanceolate, almoft twice as long as the corolla, which
is of a dull purple hue. Antherae darker. A few hairs may
be obferved at the orifice of the tube of each floret. The
feathery crown of the feed, at firft fefiile, is foon raifed on a
long taper ftalk, as in the other fpecies.
The root, when boiled or ftewed, has a mild fweetifli flavour,
and ufed formerly to be much more cultivated for the table
than it is at prefent. The flowers clofe early in the day.