The “royal dandelion”

When we take an afternoon walk from our adjacent office buildings along the bike path to the river, J. has been noticing these rather spectacular seed heads, like supersized dandelions but majestically shimmering with gold. After much Googling, we’ve determined that they are, in fact, salsify, and probably the purple kind rather than the western kind, since I associate these plants with purple, not yellow, flowers. Henceforth, “purple salsify” shall be known among us as “the royal dandelion.”