Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Jerusalem artichoke

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE

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Helianthus tuberosus L.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 3-10 feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: August, September,October

Stems:

Erect, stout, branched above, rough or stiff-hairy, sometimes nearly glabrous.

Leaves:

Variable, usually opposite below, alternate above, simple, stalked, ovate to lanceolate, 4 to 10 inches long, 2.5 to 6 inches wide, firm, upper surface rough, lower surface minutely pubescent; margins toothed; tips gradually tapered to points.

Inflorescences:

Heads, 3 to numerous, terminal, 2.5 to 3.5 inch wide; bracts lanceolate to linear-lanceolate; equaling or exceeding disk; tips pointed.

Flowers:

Ray florets 10-20, 1 to 1.5 inch long, yellow; disk florets numerous, corollas yellow to orange.

Fruits:

Achenes, about 1/4 inch long, flattened, glabrous, dark brown, tipped by 2 deciduous awns, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Along streams, moist thickets and draws, roadsides.

Distribution:

East 3/4 of Kansas.

Uses:

Many Native American tribes used the tubers for food, eating them raw, boiled, or roasted.

Comments:

The common name does not refer to the city of Jerusalem but is said to be a corruption of girasole, Italian for "turn-sun". Jerusalem artichoke has edible, tuberous rhizomes that form in the autumn.

Jerusalem artichoke head