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ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 



BULLETIN 



OF 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



No. 



[1919 



XXIV.— THE "JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE." 



{Helianthus tuberosus.) 



C. C. Lacaita. 

 In. the Gardeners 5 Chronicle for March 23rd, 1918, vol. lxiii. 



p. 126, there appeared a paragraph offering prizes for a new 

 English name for the Jerusalem artichoke, in which it was stated 

 that " the name is considered a corruption of the Italian Girasole 

 ArtioccOy or Sunflower Artichoke, under which name it is said to 

 have been originally distributed from the Farnese gardens at 

 Rome in 1617." Now we may assert positively (1) that it was 

 not originally distributed from the Farnese gardens; (2) that it 

 was not called Girasole Articiocco* in those gardens; (3) that it 

 never has been known in Italy under that name. 



The history of Helianthus tuberosus, L., the " Jerusalem 

 Artichoke " has been dealt with in some detail by Schleehtendal, 

 €$ Zur Geschichte des Helianthus tuberosus, L." in the Botanische 

 Zeitung, of April 23rd, 1858, vol. xvi. p. 113; by Trumbull and 

 Gray, k4 Notes on the History of Helianthus tuberosus" in Amer. 

 Journ. of Science and Arts, 3rd serie-. xiii. p. 347 (1877); by 

 Decaisne in Flore des Serres et des Jardins, xxiii. p. 112 (1880); 

 by Gray and Trumbull again in their Review of De Candolle's 

 Origin of Cultivated Plants in Am. Journ. of Science, 3rd series, 

 xxv. p. 244 (1883); by Hooker in Bot. Mag., liii. t. 7545 (1897); 

 and by Gibault, Histoire des Legumes, p. 286 (1912). 



None of these accounts are complete, and all contain some 

 inaccuracies; it has therefore seemed desirable to collect the 

 information contained in them, and to supplement it with more 

 details of the discovery and distribution of the plant, and a fuller 

 discussion of the origin of the popular English and French names. 



As far as can be traced, the Jerusalem artichoke was first 

 noticed by Europeans during Champlain's second voyage, 1604- 

 1607, when he saw it in cultivation on a visit to the habitations of 

 the natives at Nauset Harbour, on the coast of Massachusetts, on 



Artiocco is an obvious misprint. 



(606.) Wt. 158-829. 1,125. 10/19. J. T. &: 9 . T.M. (j. 14. Sch. 12. 



