198 



Root Crops 



and roughened, tapering above into ttie beak, the pieces weigh- 

 ing 10 to 25 mg. ; longevity about 2 to 3 years. — Mediter- 

 ranean region ; an introduced weed in North America and 

 other countries, along roadsides and in waste places, in such 

 cases not producing the thickened roots of the cultivated plant. 



SCORZONERA or BLACK SALSIFY 

 The cultivation of this plant is in all ways like that of 



salsify, except that it should be given much more room. 



It is perennial, however, and the roots continue to enlarge 



without becoming inedible if left in the ground for more 



than one year. 



It has a long black root, yellow flowers, light-colored 



seeds, and broader leaves than salsify. It is used in the 



same way as salsify. The plant is little known in North 



America (Figs. 106, 107). 



Black salsify is Scorzonera hispanica, Linn. Sp. PI. 791, 



of the Compositcc, closely related to Tragopogon. It is per- 

 ennial, with milky juice, bearing many slightly pubescent 

 keeled leaves 12 to 18 in. long, the mid-blade 1% in. wide, 

 lanceolate and tapering gradually into a long sharp point and 

 below into a long-winged petiole : taproot thickened like that 

 of salsify : stem erect, 2 ft. or more, the leaves with clasping 

 bases : heads single, terminal, the involucre bracts in two or 

 more series and not leafy, the flowers yellow : fruit nearly 

 white, angular, grooved, the inner ones in the head smooth 

 and the outer ones slightly serrate, bearing a long beak and 

 tuft of pappus ; the commercial " seeds " lack the beak and 

 pappus, the former disarticulating, the remaining part 14 to 

 % in. long and weighing 10 to 15 mg. — Central and southern 

 Europe. 



SCOLYMUS OR SPANISH SALSIFY 

 This plant is cultivated like salsify, and the roots are 

 used for the same purposes. It makes a root much like 



