44 



Perennial Crops 



choke, but as it is not an artichoke and has no relation 

 to Jerusalem, the name should be dropped. In fact, 

 " Jerusalem in this case is supposed to be a corruption 

 of girasole, an Italian name. The French name, topi- 

 nambour, is too formidable to become popular in English. 



The Gieasole Plant 



H el i a nth us, the sunflowers, comprises about 70 species, 

 as no^Y recognized, natives of the western hemisphere. The 

 common garden sunflower, //. annuus, yields edible seeds and 

 its herbage provides more or less fodder. Several species pro- 

 duce underground tubers, one of which has long been known 

 as a food-plant. Helianthus is one of the Compositse. 



H. tuberosus, Linn. Sp. PI. 905. Gibasole. Topinambour. 

 Perennial, producing tubers on the ends and branches of 

 underground stems or rootstocks, as well as midway on the 

 rootstocks : stem erect, 5 to 10 ft. tall, striate, hirsute : Ivs. 

 opposite or the upper ones alternate, petioled, long-ovate to 

 ovate-oblong, upper ones narrower, acuminate, serrate-dentate, 

 rough above, more or less thin-pubescent beneath, with a pair 

 of strong lateral ribs or nerres from the base, narrowed either 

 abru]itly or gradually into a somewhat winged petiole : heads 

 few or many terminating the branches, 2 or 3 in. across, with 

 conspicuous light yellow veined pointed rays ; involucre of two 

 or more series of lanceolate pointed ciliate scales, the outer 

 ones spreading ; receptacle with scales subtending the achenes ; 

 ray florets neutral (sexless), the disc florets perfect and yel- 

 low, pappus of small deciduous scales: fruit (seed) oblong, 

 pubescent, nearly or quite ^ in. long, usually only a few 

 (sometimes none^ developed in each head. — Canada and U. S. 

 It is doubtful whether Linnaeus meant to designate this plant 

 in his description of H. tuherosus; his references do not certify 

 to it, and he writes " habitat in Brasilia," although the Brazil 

 of his day was apparently a broad geographical term and not 

 necessarily the country now known by that name. 



