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13×19 in black wood frame (available only at CHOMP)
Species: Western salsify (Tragopogon dubius)
Public Land: Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico
Description: In the quiet dark of dawn, the Western salsify (Tragopogon dubius) reveals its intricate architecture with its delicate filaments shimmering like spun glass. Each seed, perfectly balanced and ready for flight, seems to hold a tiny universe within its fractile structure. In this still moment, the Western Salsify becomes a meditation on the quiet beauty found in the day’s earliest light. Though the Western salsify is non-native to the Americas, though it has become naturalized, meaning it reproduces without causing ecological harm.
Not all travelers unsettle the places where they land. Some plants arrive quietly, rooting themselves with humility, folding into the rhythms of the land without displacing what was already there. These naturalized species move with a gentler intention—finding space in the margins, filling forgotten cracks, and weaving themselves into the existing tapestry without pulling its threads loose.
They are guests who learn the language of the soil, who bloom without demanding more than the earth can spare. In their presence, the ecology does not fray; instead, it absorbs them, shaping and being shaped in return. Their stories remind us that not every outsider is a threat—sometimes, arrival can be a soft and harmless act of belonging.
13×19 in black wood frame (available only at CHOMP)
Species: Western salsify (Tragopogon dubius)
Public Land: Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico
Description: In the quiet dark of dawn, the Western salsify (Tragopogon dubius) reveals its intricate architecture with its delicate filaments shimmering like spun glass. Each seed, perfectly balanced and ready for flight, seems to hold a tiny universe within its fractile structure. In this still moment, the Western Salsify becomes a meditation on the quiet beauty found in the day’s earliest light. Though the Western salsify is non-native to the Americas, though it has become naturalized, meaning it reproduces without causing ecological harm.
Not all travelers unsettle the places where they land. Some plants arrive quietly, rooting themselves with humility, folding into the rhythms of the land without displacing what was already there. These naturalized species move with a gentler intention—finding space in the margins, filling forgotten cracks, and weaving themselves into the existing tapestry without pulling its threads loose.
They are guests who learn the language of the soil, who bloom without demanding more than the earth can spare. In their presence, the ecology does not fray; instead, it absorbs them, shaping and being shaped in return. Their stories remind us that not every outsider is a threat—sometimes, arrival can be a soft and harmless act of belonging.