I agree, very pretty. A type of aster, according to that scientific name. So apparently sunflowers, dandelions, asters, and salsify are all related. I still have not managed to memorize the scientific classification of plant relations; you know, kingdom, phylum, species, variety, etc. I know there are more classifications than that, I just can't name them, nor the proper order. lol

@MikeInBatonRouge - I tend to think of them as composites but I did notice that the scientific family names Asteraceae and Compositae are apparently the same. Names seem to change quite a bit among plant taxons. I've run into plenty of changes as I paid more attention in recent years to plant names, typically the Family, Genus, and species. These changes add confusion to attempting to make sense of scientic taxonomy. Although, the same variety in plant names does exist among common name as well. Salsify for example is alzo known as goat's beard or oyster plant, and the Texas dandelion is also called desert chicory.

@MikeInBatonRouge - Are you at all familiar with the USDA website? As I recall, each entry has a section listing the plants taxonomic names from Kingdom to species.

[plants.sc.egov.usda.gov]

@RussRAB thnx. I hadn't really checked it out before.

I might try that if my soil were not such dense clay, but it is. I am sure it would snap the root before I got any sense of depth of it. But see above. I have decided to lose my mind and try to plant more of these from seed. ha

@MikeInBatonRouge The roots go deep...and in dense soil, they might be skinny and small...but that keeps them alive in droughts...and the roots are edible! Bitter, but a unique flavor!

I looked it up and it appears to be a variety called Meadow Salsify, which may be wild