Ideas for community gardens < roots

The jerusalum artichoke is a highly productive plant that produces a cluster of edible rhizomes.

The leaf and flower of the jerusalum artichoke resemble those of sunflower to which it is related.

JERUSALUM ARTICHOKE

Botanic name

• Helianthus tuberous

Family

• Compositae
• same family as sunflower and yacon

Growth form

• similar to sunflower
• tall, single stem to around a metre in height, sometimes more, with wide, soft laves
• yellow flowers
• produces cluster of rhizomes in late autumn/ early winter in warm temperate coastal climates of Eastern Australia

Edible part

• rhizome:
  • cooked as vegetable
  • used in soup
  • edible raw

Cultivation

• frost hardy
• tolerates a variety of soils
• rhizomes ready to harvest when foliage dies
• rhizomes may be stored in soil for limited period
• high productivity in good conditions

Propagation:

• vegetative - from rhizome

Centre of diversity

• North America
• cultivated and collected from wild by Indian peoples.

PAGE UPDATED... Thursday, 17 January 2002