VARIATION IN ARTICHOKES 



Bud Sports Frequent and Offer Promise of Improving Commercial Strains to a 

 Considerable Degree, if They Are Isolated -Methods of Culture 



A. U. SlIA.MEL 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, Riverside, Calif. 



IN THE writer's neij:^hborhood of 

 Riverside, California, is a garden of 

 artichokes, Cynara Scolymtis, Linn., 

 perhaps about one-half acre in ex- 

 tent, grown for the purpose of supply- 

 ing the local markets with this vege- 

 table. While this artichoke is largely 

 unknown in American households, its 

 popularity in southern California seems 

 to be growing rapidly, so that at the 

 present time it is not only commonly 

 grown in many home gardens, but is 

 also a staple vegetable found on the 

 menus of nearly all of the first-class 

 hotels and restaurants during the late 

 winter and spring months. 



The artichoke^ is a hardy perennial, 

 a native of North Africa and South 

 Europe. Pliny mentions it as a vege- 

 table that was highly esteemed by the 

 Romans. It was introduced into Eng- 

 land from Italy about 1548. Its intro- 

 duction into the United States was 

 probably of comparatively recent date, 

 and, as yet, its cultivation on a commer- 

 cial scale is largely limited to certain 

 sections of some of the southern and 

 western states including California. 

 Most of the Eastern visitors to south- 

 ern California, with whom the writer 

 has come in contact, have stated that 

 they had never eaten this vegetable 

 previous to their experience here. 

 Manv of them have become very fond 

 of it.' 



The plant somewhat resembles a 

 large thistle, and, indeed, is often mis- 

 taken by visitors for some strange 

 thistle. The stalks and leaves are 

 numerous, large, fleshy, and have a 

 coarse spiny appearance. The leaves 

 are covered with an ash-colored cot- 

 tony down, are of many ])cculiar and 

 striking shapes, commonly ])innatifi(l 



* The Trca.sury of Botany, p. 371. 

 306 



or pinnatilobed. The flower stems grow 

 erect and attain a height of from four to 

 six feet. The flower heads are usually 

 somewhat globular in shape and consist 

 of imbricated, oval, spiny, broad scales, 

 thickened at the base, of green, or 

 ]3urplish green color, enclosing a mass 

 of flowers in the center. These flower 

 heads in an immature state contain the 

 edible parts, a fleshy receptacle usually 

 called the "bottom," freed from the 

 bristles and seed-down, commonly called 

 the "choke," and the thick lower part 

 of the imbricated scales or leaves. 



METHOD OF USE 



The common method of using this 

 vegetable here is to boil the immature 

 flower heads until tender. Drawn but- 

 ter, a sauce, or a salad dressing is pro- 

 vided, frequently a thick mayonnaise. 

 The scales of the flower head are ]3icked 

 olT one by one and the base of each is 

 dipped into the sauce and eaten. The 

 "bottom" is then carefully freed from 

 the seed-down or "choke" and is cut 

 up and eaten with the sauce. In 

 France the "bottoms" are often fried 

 in paste and enter largely into ragouts. 

 They are occasionally used for pickling. 

 The flowers are very large and hand- 

 some and ]3ossess the projDerty of co- 

 agulating milk. 



The stalks of each jjlant vary greatly 

 in the time of bringing their flower 

 heads u]) to the right stage of maturity 

 for cutting. The top flower head of 

 each stalk usually matures first and the 

 lower ones, which are usually of small 

 size, mature later in the season. For 

 this reason the jieriod of production 

 of a field of plants in some seasons 

 covers two or three months, and is 

 frec]uenlly fr(;ni four to six weeks. This 



