Scorzonera hispanica 'Belstar' (Black Salsify)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Black Salsify, Black Vegetable-oyster Plant, Scorzonera, Serpent Root, Vipers Grass

Description

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Family Compositae

The largest family of flowering plants , the Compositae (Asteraceae), comprising about 1,100 genera and more than 20,000 species and characterized by many small flowers arranged in a head looking like a single flower and subtended by an involucre of bracts. A head may consist of both ray flowers and disk flowers, as in the sunflower, of disk flowers only, as in the burdock, or of ray flowers only, as in the dandelion.

Tribe Lactuceae

The Lactuceae are a tribe of closely related genera of the sunflower family that are easily recognized because the flowering heads are composed of wholly of ligulate florets that are usually 5-lobed. Another very distinguishing feature is the milky sap . Although not apparent without magnification, the pollen is distinctive in that the spines are more or less restricted to discrete ridges or flanges on the surface of the grain. In other members of the family the spines are distributed more or less evenly over the surface of the pollen grain . The pappus usually consists of scales or stiff hairs . -- Gerald D. Carr.

Genus Scorzonera

Annuals , biennials, or perennials [subshrubs ], 5-100+ cm; taprooted. Stems 1, erect , branched from bases and/or distally, glabrous or hairy . Leaves basal and cauline; basal sessile or petiolate , distal sessile; blades ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate or linear , margins entire or pinnately lobed to pinnatisect (faces glabrous or ± arachnose [tomentose ]). Heads borne singly or in loose , corymbiform arrays. Peduncles not inflated , sometimes bracteate . Calyculi 0. Involucres ovoid to cylindric , 6-12[-16+] mm diam. (larger in fruit). Phyllaries 18-30+ in 3-5+ series, deltate or ovate to lanceolate or lance-linear (± flat proximally, not enfolding subtended florets ), unequal, margins scarious , apices obtuse to acute. Receptacles flat, pitted , glabrous, epaleate. Florets 30-100+; corollas whitish to yellow or purplish. Cypselae whitish to brownish, narrowly columnar to obclavate or fusiform (sometimes ± stipitate ), not beaked , nerves usually 10, sometimes 0, faces mostly glabrous, sometimes distally villosulous [lanate ]; pappi persistent , of 28-50+, whitish, subequal , plumose to barbellate , subulate to setiform scales in 2-3 series. x = 7.

Species ca. 175: introduced ; Europe, Asia.[1]

Physical Description

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 18-24" tall.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 3-6" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Euphyllophytina ()
        Class: Magnoliopsida () - Brongniart, 1843 - Dicotyledons
        Subclass: Asteridae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Campanulanae () - Takhtajan Ex Reveal, 1992
        Order: Asterales () - Lindley, 1833
        Family: Compositae () - Giseke, 1792, nom. cons., nom. alt.
        Subfamily: Cichorioideae ()
        Tribe: Lactuceae ()
        Subtribe: Scorzonerinae ()
        Genus: Scorzonera () - C. Linnaeus, 1753 - [Perhaps French scorzonère, "viper's grass;" allusion unknown]
        Specific epithet: hispanica - Linnaeus
        Cultivar: Belstar
        Botanical name: - Scorzonera hispanica 'Belstar' Linnaeus