Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon

Goat's beard, Noon flower, Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon

The goat's beard, which each morn abroad doth peep
But shuts its flowers at noon and goes to sleep.
Abrahim Cowley

The flower could once have been regarded as a poor man’s clock because the flower head opens and follows the sun each morning before closing at about noon. Sure enough shortly afterwards I have noticed that all the flowers have closed. The flower is found on road and field verges and wasteland and generally flowers in June and July so I was lucky to find one still in bloom. It has grass like stalks and can grow up to a metre high and once the flower is fertilised the bracts close up completely hiding them before the seed head eventually develops lookings like a massive dandelion clock which can often be 10cms across. The seed head looks vaguely like a goat’s beard hence its name Tragopogon from the Greek.