Yellow Salsify

It is interesting that some of the most beautiful plants in the world are considered to be weeds. I sometimes let "weeds" grow even when I know they are invasive just because they are beautiful and make me happy. I enjoy the way that some plants never seem to thrive even with careful attention and others will grow spontaneously without any attention at all. This plant has a lot of names. Here are some of them: western goat's beard, wild oysterplant, yellow salsify, yellow goat's beard, meadow goat's beard, goat's beard, goatsbeard, common salsify, or salsify. Here is a quote from Wikipedia: Tragopogon dubius.

Tragopogon dubius (yellow salsify, western salsify, western goat's-beard, wild oysterplant, yellow goat's beard, goat's beard, goatsbeard, common salsify, salsify) is a species of salsify native to southern and central Europe and western Asia and found as far north and west as northern France. Although it has been reported from Kashmir and India, recent evidence suggests that specimens from these areas may be a different species. Western salsify has been introduced into North America where it has become widespread, being reported from all the continental United States except for a few in the far south-east, and all provinces of Canada except Newfoundland and the northern territories.

Along with tumbleweeds, tamarisk, and other introduced plants, salsify is listed as a "noxious weed." I have always thought of the incongruity of having a list of endangered species alongside a list of noxious, invasive weeds. It seems like the plants that can do well on their own are weeds while those we choose to protect have such a difficult time surviving. Maybe there is a lesson here.