42 



Perennial Crops 



and the divisions cut and lobed with short spines terminating 

 the long narrow lobes, the radical ones 2 to 3 ft. long and 

 a foot or more broad, arching at maturity ; stem Its. similar 

 but successively smaller, decurrent : heads large (3 to 4 in. 

 diam.), terminal, globular, erect, often subtended by bracts, 

 producing a brush of numerous purple tubular florets; in- 

 volucre scales imbricated, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, entire, 

 obtuse or emarginate; receptacle thick and fleshy, bearing 

 many bristles: fruit (seeds) oblong-ovate, ^ to % in, long, 

 somewhat flattened, smooth, striate and spotted, weighing about 

 40 to 70 mg., retaining vitality 5 to 7 years. — Southern Europe 

 and northern Africa ; tending to run wild in parts of Cali- 

 fornia. It is a plant of relatively modern cultivation. Some- 

 times called " globe artichoke to distinguish it from the 

 girasole. Very closely related to the cardoon (C. Cardunculus, 

 Linn.), also of S. Europe and extensively naturalized in 

 S. America. The cardoon is a taller and stouter plant; a 

 form with thick leaf-stalks is cultivated for food after the 

 manner of celery. Some botanists consider the artichoke and 

 cardoon to be forms of one species. 



GIRASOLE 



Hardy plant grown for its underground tubers, which 

 may he used as a vegetable, as are potatoes, or for stock 

 feed. Requires 7io special treatment, and will persist in- 

 definitely, and spread, if left to itself. Propagated by 

 planting the tubers. 



As grown in this country, the girasole is seldom tilled. The 

 tubers are planted whole, 1 to 2 feet apart, and the plants 

 allowed to shift for themselves beyond an occasional destruc- 

 tion of big weeds. Better results are to be expected when 

 the tubers are planted in rows far enough apart for horse 

 tillage, and 12 to 16 inches in the row. The plant requires the 

 entire season in which to make its tubers, and the product is 

 not dug till the tops begin to die. Tubers left in the ground 



