JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE
File Size: 72 KB
 
Helianthus tuberosus  L.
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 3-10 feet
Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family
Flowering Period:   August, September,October
Stems: Erect, stout, branched above, rough or stiff-hairy, sometimes nearly glabrous.
Leaves: Variable, usually opposite below, alternate above, simple, stalked, ovate to lanceolate, 4 to 10 inches long, 2.5 to 6 inches wide, firm, upper surface rough, lower surface minutely pubescent; margins toothed; tips gradually tapered to points.
Inflorescences: Heads, 3 to numerous, terminal, 2.5 to 3.5 inch wide; bracts lanceolate to linear-lanceolate; equaling or exceeding disk; tips pointed.
Flowers: Ray florets 10-20, 1 to 1.5 inch long, yellow; disk florets numerous, corollas yellow to orange.
Fruits: Achenes, about 1/4 inch long, flattened, glabrous, dark brown, tipped by 2 deciduous awns, enclosing small seed.
Habitat: Along streams, moist thickets and draws, roadsides.
Distribution: East 3/4 of Kansas.
Uses: Many Native American tribes used the tubers for food, eating them raw, boiled, or roasted.
Comments: The common name does not refer to the city of Jerusalem but is said to be a corruption of girasole, Italian for "turn-sun". Jerusalem artichoke has edible, tuberous rhizomes that form in the autumn.

Jerusalem artichoke head
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Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke inflorescence
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke leaf
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke involucral bracts
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Atchison County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke leaves
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Atchison County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Atchison County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke habit
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Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Riley County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke leaves
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Marshall County, Kansas
Jerusalem artichoke
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Riley County, Kansas