Nature on our doorsteps: Goatsbeard in the meadows

Rosaleen Dwyer is the County Heritage Officer at South Dublin County Council – every week she gives us an insight into the natural heritage around us and the beautiful biodiversity of the plants and creatures

The recent warm weather has encouraged great growth in the wildflower meadows in our parks.

Carpets of low-growing Birds-foot trefoil have brought a bright yellow colour to large patches of grass, while Red Clover adds splashes of red to the mix.

Tall Dog Daisies are also just coming into flower, reaching high above these shorter plants.

One of the less-well known flowering plants in bloom in the meadows at the moment is Goatsbeard.

This is a member of the Aster (daisy) family of plants, and this large group also includes the Dandelions, the Hawkweeds and the Hawksbeards.

While Goatsbeard’s flowers have the same general shape and size as Dandelions, the colour of Goatsbeard’s flowers is more of a brighter lemon-yellow.

Their flowerheads are also flatter in shape, unlike the pop-pom heads of Dandelion.   Goatsbeard’s leaves are also different, being long and narrow more like a grass.

Goatsbeard’s seedheads are larger and more robust than Dandelion’s fluffy ‘clocks’

Goatsbeard produces seedheads like the fluffy ‘clocks’ of Dandelion, but Goatsbeard’s are much larger and more robust.

They have fewer seeds in each seedhead, and the hairs of the individual parachutes which carry these seeds into the wind are also longer.

These parachutes dark cream or light brown, unlike Dandelion’s white parachutes.

Goatsbeard’s unusual name arises from the appearance of its developing seedheads.

When the flower has been pollinated and closes up to allow its seeds to develop, the shape of the developing seedhead with its tufts of protruding hairs looks like the tufts of hair on the chin of a goat.

Goatsbeard’s flowers only open in sunshine in the first half of the day, and they are usually tightly closed again by late morning.

This pattern of flowering gave rise to its other name in Britain of ‘Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon’.

Goatsbeard is not a very common plant across Ireland.  Its frequent appearance in our park meadows is a direct result of managing these meadows by only cutting them once a year, after the flowers have released their seeds for the next generation.