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
Holt Farm?
ReplyDeleteAnna - Yes :) I kept on forgetting to take a photo of it until my visit there yesterday!
ReplyDeleteWill definitely have to persuade himself to point camper van in that direction before long :)
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you do Anna and you'd like to meet up. NB it's open on Thursdays and the first Sunday afternoon of the month from now until September :)
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for stopping by my blog! It was lovely to meet you at Holt Farm, hopefully our paths will cross in the not too distant future - I feel there's a lot I could learn from you and your adventures around the world :)
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