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DESCRIPTION:
Common salsify is a stout perennial or biennial broadleaf plant with a very leafy base,
narrow leaves, and a thick taproot. Seed germination
and regrowth from roots both occur in
early spring. Salsify seedlings are narrow and grasslike, growing out of a tube
formed by the bases of the cotyledons (seed leaves). Mature plants range from 2 to 4 feet
(60 - 120 cm) tall. Leaves are 1 foot
(30 cm) long or longer, narrow, and end in a point. Each plant has a single thick
stalk bearing a flower cluster with about 90 purple ray flowers. Each flower
is surrounded by 8 or 9 narrow leaflike structures much
longer than the petals. Flowers bear single fruits, each a 1/2 inch (13 mm)
cylinder with a long beak and brownish, matlike bristles in a dandelion head-like
puff ball.
Broadleaf ID illustration.
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