Description: A biennial herbaceous plant of an upright bare stem that is weakly branched. The leaves are entire edge and linear. All flowers are lingual and usually crimson-red. The flower heads are up to 7 cm long. The fruits are scaly acheniums with a beak bearing a pappus built of a single row of densely pinnate hairs.

Flowering time: May-July

Habitat: Dry grasslands

Interesting fact: Allegedly Caesar’s soldiers were fed with salsify. Otherwise all parts of the plant are edible.