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JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, EARTH APPLE, CANADA POTATO, GIRASOLE (H.
tuberosus), often called WILD SUNFLOWER, too, has an interesting
history similar to the dark-centered, common garden sunflower's.
In a musty old tome printed in 1649, and entitled "A Perfect
Description of Virginia," we read that the English planters had
"rootes of several kindes, Potatoes, Sparagus, Carrets and
Hartichokes" - not the first mention of the artichoke by
Anglo-Americans. Long before their day the Indians, who taught
them its uses, had cultivated it; and wherever we see the bright
yellow flowers gleaming like miniature suns above roadside
thickets and fence rows in the East, we may safely infer the spot
was once an aboriginal or colonial farm. White men planted it
extensively for its edible tubers, which taste not unlike celery
root or salsify. As early as 1617 the artichoke was introduced
into Europe, and only twelve years later Parkinson records that
the roots had become very plentiful and cheap in London. The
Italians also cultivated it under the name Girasole Articocco
(sunflower artichoke), but it did not take long for the girasole
to become corrupted into Jerusalem, hence the name Jerusalem
Artichoke common to this day. When the greater value of the
potato came to be generally recognized, the use of artichoke
roots gradually diminished. Quite different from this sunflower
is the true artichoke (Cynara Scolymus), a native of Southern
Europe, whose large, unopened flower-heads offer a tiny edible
morsel at the base of each petal-like part.
The Jerusalem artichoke sends up from its thickened, fleshy,
tuber-bearing rootstock, hairy, branching stems six to twelve
feet high. Especially are the flower-stalks rough, partly to
discourage pilfering crawlers. The firm, oblong leaves, taper
pointed at the apex and saw-edged, are rough above, the lower
leaves opposite each other on petioles, the upper alternate. The
brilliant flower-heads, which are produced freely in September
and October, defying frost, are about two or three inches across,
and consist of from twelve to twenty lively yellow rays around a
dull yellow disk. The towering prolific plant prefers moist but
not wet soil from Georgia and Arkansas northward to New Brunswick
and the Northwest Territory. Omnivorous small boys are not always
particular about boiling, not to say washing, the roots before
eating them.
Next: LANCELEAVED TICKSEED GOLDEN COREOPSIS
Previous: JERUSALEM PURPLE CONEFLOWER
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