Goat’s-beard

LEAVES : Alternate, linear to lance-shaped, grass-like.

PLANT HEIGHT : 40–75cm.

FLOWER SIZE : Flowerhead 1.8–4cm wide, depending on length of rays.

FRUIT : “Clock” of white feathery achenes forming a whitish ball, up to 12cm wide.

FLOWERING TIME : June–July.

SIMILAR SPECIES  : None. Its large size and linear leaves make it distinctive.

Goat’s-beard stately member of the daisy family stands robust and erect. It has few branches, its stems are ridged, and the unusual leaves are linear, tapered to fine tips. In Britain and western France, there is a form whose flowerheads have very short ray florets, inside a ring of lance-like bracts that stand proud like a monarch’s crown. The continental form has long ray florets, but both forms are folded tightly shut by midday. The bracts elongate and swell as the fruit develops, eventually opening out to reveal an enormous fluffy “clock”.