Plant Identity Needed Please
Hi all, does anyone have any idea what this plant may be please. It has come up all of a sudden on our allotment and it is lovely. It's in a semi-shady area beneath a cherry tree in a bit of land that has been uncultivated for a while now.
It's about 4 to 5 feet tall, very willowy and delicate with mauve coloured flowers that resemble very delicate thistle heads. The flowers open up in the sun then completely close up into these tall points when the sun goes in.
I've added some pictures, sorry if they're a bit ropey.
Many thanks 
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n
Last edited: 11 June 2017 21:32:24
I think you may have some Salsify there
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/19/alys-fowler-salsify
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Agree....Tragopogon porrifolius...Salsify.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tragopogon+porrifolius&rlz=1C1GNAM_en-GBGB687GB687&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiGi9Ol1bbUAhVLGhQKHdwwD3MQ_AUICigB&biw=1536&bih=759
Glad you asked that. I've been watching it grow wild in local hedgerows on walkies and wondered what it was.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
I like the seed heads best.
I've got the smaller tragopogon pratensis with yellow flowers, or 'Jack go to bed at noon'
Wow thanks guys. Wonder where that came from. Can I ask, is it the edible salsify? I'm going to be seed sowing next spring regardless. Thanks again.
Well the seed heads are like dandelions Sloth, so the seed probably floated into your garden on the breeze