yellow goat’s beard

Introduced taprooted biennial to short-lived perennial, stems to 1 m tall and bearing entire leaves, involucral bracts in one equal series, peduncle swollen, rays yellow, pappus of capillary bristles, common in grasslands, meadows, and sagebrush steppe, typically sites with a history of disturbance. The leaves in the first year leafy rosette can be mistaken from grass except that the tips can be readily plucked off to expose the milky sap.

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(Tragopogon dubius) Single yellow flower head on smooth stem; flower head all rays; involucral green bracts longer than rays. Grass-like leaves up to 1' (30 cm) long, broad at base where clasp stem, narrow to long sharp tip. Aster family. Source: newhampshirewildflowers.com/fistulous-goatsbeard.php

Published on Jun 12, 2013

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Photos used under protection of the "fair use" section (107) of the U.S. copyright act of 1976. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S521VcjhvMA&feature=player_embedded

Published on Jun 12, 2013

MNEMONIC NOTE: This plant is 1 of 3 in this course that have the word "lion" in the nickname (Lion's Paw, Dead-The-Lion, Lion's Boat). All 3 resemble or is the Dandelion and are distinguished, from one another, by their leaves. The leaves are then the springboard to their perspective mnemonics. So... What's the first thing to do when you see a lion in the area? Leave (leaf)! That means: When you see a lion immediately look at the leaves.

PRE-MNEMONIC: When you see a lion in the field immediately leave the area. Leaves that look like grass (associated with cows) lets you know that you might have the Lion's Boat plant.

MNEMONIC EXPLAINED: A cow (associated with grass [plant leaves are grass-like] and milk [exudes a milk sap when broken]) and a rabbit (associated with carrots [roots are stout and tapered; carrot-like; beige not orange; grass-like leaves also grow out of root top (carrot top-ish); grass-like leaves partially encircle developing stem and flowering stem at their base] and big ears [represent bracts that extend beyond flowerhead margin/edge/radius like ears extend beyond rabbit's head]) wanted to go across water for greener pastures. They accepted a ride from a lion (flowerheads and puff-ball seedheads resemble dandi-LION but are much larger) who offered to transport them, on his boat (leaf tips are keeled [bottom of boat]), with a promise of not eating them. During the journey, like in a cartoon, when the lion looked at the cow he saw a glass of milk and when he looked at the rabbit he saw a chocolate bunny (lion, cow and rabbit are closely tied or associated in this sentence in a way that by thinking of one will remind you of the others; important because leaves and roots are best [though edible] before flowering stem has developed; find just grass-like leaves in the field, easily associate them with a cow, cow is tied to milk that is tied to chocolate that is tied to rabbit/bunny; both cow and rabbit is tied to the lion [in case you see the lion in the field first]. Unable to resist himself he started chasing them around and around. All of the running around in circles triggered a whirlpool. The lion caught them and swallowed the chocolate and the milk. The whirlpool swallowed the lion (the stem becomes enlarged and hollow underneath flowerhead; enlarge, hollow stem represents the whirlpool and the flowerhead represents the lion). OPTION 1: As you vividly imagine the lion being swallowed by the whirlpool, notice all of the blood on his tan fur appears purple (1 of 2 look-alikes have purple flowers [they also may not have bracts/ears that extend as far beyond the flowerhead]; look-alikes can be used identically) not red. OPTION 2: Vividly imagine the lion consuming the chocolate bunny as we all did/do, by biting the ears off first (2 of 2 look-alikes don't have bracts/ears that extend far beyond flower margin; look-alike bracts will be slightly shorter, slightly longer or even with flower margin). NOTE: Both look-alikes can be used/prepared/eaten as Lion's Boat.

Published on Jun 7, 2013

Dispersal of seeds away from the parental plant is very important for diffusion and plants invest resources in a variety of structures specialized for this task. Wind dispersal is a particularly common strategy; many species rely on winged or plumed seeds to increase the efficiency of dispersal. The dispersal distance of a wind-dispersed seed is influenced by wind speed, the height at which the fruit is released, and the rate at which the seed falls to the ground. For this reason many plants evolved structures which decrease the terminal velocity of their seeds so that seeds can be spread out further.

Published on Jul 19, 2013

Yellow Salsify (Tragopogon dubius), a member of the sunflower family, is an introduced species to North America, originating in Central Europe and Western Asia. It goes by wide variety of other names including western salsify, western goat's-beard, wild oysterplant, yellow goat's beard, goat's beard, goatsbeard, common salsify, and salsify. It now grows throughout the majority of the United States and Canada.

Published on Nov 19, 2013

Cricket Sounds from "The Sounds of Nature Collection":
https://archive.org/details/Sounds_of_Nature_Collection