Plants (15-)40-100 cm. Leaves: apices usually recurved to coiled, faces initially tomentulose to floccose, soon glabrescent. Peduncles usually little, if at all, inflated (at flowering, may be inflated in fruit), initially floccose to tomentulose, soon glabrescent. Involucres urceolate in bud. Outer florets equaling or surpassing phyllaries; corollas yellow. 2n = 12. Flowering May-Aug. Disturbed sites; 10-2100 m; introduced; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Tenn., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Europe. Tragopogon pratensis is naturalized across much of North America. The circumscription and infraspecific taxonomy of T. pratensis in Europe are debated, and the name T. pratensis may prove to be inaccurately assigned to the introduced populations in North America.

Plant: Biennial 1.5-8 dm, slightly hairy when young, soon glabrous, from strong taproot; sap milky; branches few, strongly ascending Leaves: basal and cauline, alternate, entire, grass-like, parallel-veined, 2-4 dm INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads ligulate, solitary at branch tips; peduncles long, naked, generally not becoming wider upward; phyllaries generally 8, 12-30 mm in flower heads, < flowers, 18-45 mm in fruit heads; receptacle naked Flowers: ligules bright yellow, readily withering Fruit: achenes, 15-25 mm; beak stout, > body; pappus ± white, of stout plumose bristles, secondary bristles tangled, tips of a few bristles > the rest, unbranched; fruits spreading, forming a spheric head 4-5 cm diam Misc: Generally ± moist, disturbed places; 900-1600 m.