COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 467 



Stems rough, stout, woody, three to eight feet in height, simple or 

 with a few branches at the top. Leaves three to six inches long, 

 lance-shaped, pointed at both ends, thick and leathery, rigid, rough 

 on both sides, with sharp but shallow teeth or sometimes entire, and 

 are mostly sessile, only the lowermost ones narrowing to a short, 

 rigid petiole. Heads few, usually solitary at the ends of stem and 

 branches, two to four inches broad, with twenty to twenty-five 

 light yellow sterile rays ; the fertile disk-florets are purplish 

 brown. Achenes oblong, hairy, crowned with two broad scales 

 and often with several small, sharp-pointed awns. 



Means of control 



Most readily suppressed by cultivation of the soil, which destroys 

 the perennial roots ; or by frequent and close cutting during the 

 growing season, which starves the roots and prevents seed develop- 

 ment. 



JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE 



Helidnthus tuberosus, L. 



Other English names: Tuberous Sunflower, Earth Apple, Girasole, 

 Canada Potato. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by short, tuber- 

 bearing rootstocks. 



Time of bloom : August to September. 



Seed-time : September to October. 



Range: New Brunswick and Ontario to the Northwest Territory, 

 southward to Georgia and Arkansas. 



Habitat : Hummocks in swamps ; meadows, fields, roadsides, and 

 waste places. 



Long before the white men came to America the Indians were 

 rudely cultivating this native plant for its edible tubers, which are 

 fleshy and sweet and afford very nourishing food for man and 

 beast. And so persistent is it when once established that some of 

 the aboriginal patches are said to be still productive. The plant 

 will grow almost anywhere, but it thrives best and the tubers grow 

 largest in moist and mellow soil. Stems stout, erect, rough-hairy, 

 four to twelve feet tall and branching at the top. Leaves four to 

 eight inches long, ovate, pointed, thick, firm, three-nerved, saw- 

 toothed, rough on the upper side, finely hairy beneath, tapering 



