Our wildflower of the week this week is Goats Beard. Some of the wildflowers on our farms are difficult to spot – because they like shade or specific soils. Goats Beard is fairly unique as it chooses to flower only at certain times of day and only in good weather! So it can be difficult to find! We usually find Goats Beard in our yard and at the edges of tracks.
Goats Beard is a stately member of the daisy family that stands tall and robust. The roots are parsnip like and the plants stands between 40 – 75cm tall. The yellow flower-heads are solitary with eight bracts united at the base and are usually 2-4 cm wide.
Wildflower of the week – goats beard – One of the folk names of this plant is “John-go-to-bed-at-noon” because its stunning flowers are usually open only from four o’clock in the morning, till midday. Goats Beard flowers in June and July. The seed heads are a large “clock” of white feathery seeds around 12cm across.
The roots of this plant were once dug up and stored over winter to eat as a vegetable, and the young shoots were boiled and eaten as asparagus.
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