Jerusalem artichoke

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English[edit]

Plant with flowers (1)
Tubers (2)

Etymology[edit]

Uncertain, possible corruption of Italian articiocco girasole (sunflower artichoke), with girasole mistaken for the word Jerusalem via folk etymology.[1]

Noun[edit]

Jerusalem artichoke (plural Jerusalem artichokes)

  1. A variety of sunflower, Helianthus tuberosus, native to North America, having yellow flower heads and edible tubers.
  2. The tuber of this plant, eaten as a vegetable.
    Synonyms: earthapple, ground pear, sunchoke, sunroot, topinambour

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Smith, James Edward (1807) chapter 12, in An introduction to physiological and systematical botany:A corruption, as I presume, of the Italian name Girasole Articiocco, sun-flower Artichoke, as the plant was first brought from Peru to Italy, and thence propagated throughout Europe.

Further reading[edit]