USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



There they caught the popular taste and under the 

 name of ponimes de Canada, batatas de Canada or 

 Canadlennes, th'eir cultivation sjoread. In Italy they 

 were grown in the famous Farnese gardens and 

 called, they say, girasole articiocco, Sunflower 

 artichoke. A perverted pronunciation of the Ital- 

 ian by the English (who became interested in 

 the plant and were growing it extensively as early 

 as 1621), is the popularly accepted explanation of the 

 association of Jerusalem with it. The tubers (borne 

 at the tip of horizontal rootstocks) are in the wild 

 plant but an inch or two in diameter, but in cultiva- 

 tion they may be much larger, as well as better flav- 

 ored. They reach their maximum development in the 

 autumn, when they may be taken up and stored in 

 pits for mnter use; or, since frost does not injure 

 them, they may be left in the ground all winter, and 

 dug in the spring. In spite of the Jerusalem Arti- 

 choke's popularity as a vegetable abroad, Americans 

 have so far been indifferent to it, except as feed for 

 cattle and hogs — another instance of the prophet's 

 lack of honor in his o^\ti country.^ 



1 There are about 40 species of wild sunflowers growing within 

 the borders of the United States, and it is not always easy to 

 identify some given species. The Artichoke Sunflower is a perennial 

 with hairy, branching stems 6 to 12 feet tall, and rough, ovate leaves, 

 taper pointed, toothed at the edges, 4 to 8 inches long and iVo 

 to 3 inches wide, narrowing at the base to a rather long footstalk. 



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