Wildflower - Jack Go To Bed At Noon

This was originally published on my website

http://www.muddleaged.com

Jack Go To Bed at Noon

Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon (Tragopogon pratensis)

This flower gets its nick-name from its flowering habit. It opens in the morning and closes midday. Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon is also known as Yellow Goatsbeard. (can't imagine why)

A more apt name, but one I have only read (not heard) is Shepherd's Clock.

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As the immortal poet Cowley pens:
'The goat's beard, which each morn abroad doth peep
But shuts its flowers at noon and goes to sleep.'
(I haven't the faintest clue who Cowley is. The only reference I have found is as the author of this poem.) (It may be Abraham Cowley, who is famous for: "life is an incurable disease")

Plant Type: This is a non-native herbaceous plant which can reach 90cm in height (36inches).
Leaves: The leaves are alternate. Each leaf is entire, slender, tapering to a long narrow tip and clasps the stem.
Flowers: The flowers have numerous parts. They are yellowgreen. Blooms first appear in early summer and continue into mid summer.

Fruit: A ball of wind dispersed achenes.

(In case you are wondering what achenes are:
achene: Small one-seeded, thin walled, indehiscent fruit smaller than a nut. Let's see you use indehiscent in a sentence!

indehiscent: Not opening at maturity.)

Habitat: Fields, fencerows and waste places.

Source: http://2bnthewild.com/plants/H162.htm

The seeds of this flower resemble delicate dandelion fluff.

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In the above picture, there is bedstraw in the background.

Cecily Mary Barker has captured the essence of this weed in the Jack-Go-To-Bed-At-NoonFairy:

Keep your eye out for the Jack Go to Bed at Noon Fairy while you are out looking at wildflowers.

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Photos taken in June and July, 2001
Copyright Leslie