Jerusalem artichoke
species of sunflower native to eastern North America (for the root vegetable use Q55706475)
The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also called sunroot, sunchoke, wild sunflower, topinambur, or earth apple, is a species of sunflower native to central North America. It is cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable.
Description
Helianthus tuberosus is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1.5–3 m (4 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in) tall with opposite leaves on the lower part of the stem but alternate towards the top. The leaves have a rough, hairy texture. Larger leaves on the lower stem are broad ovoid-acute and can be up to 30 cm (12 in) long. Leaves higher on the stem are smaller and narrower.
The flowers are yellow and produced in capitate flowerheads, which are 5–10 cm (2–4 in) in diameter, with 10–20 ray florets and 60 or more small disc florets. The flowers are briefly fragrant, giving off a light, vanilla-chocolate scent.
The tubers are often elongated and uneven, typically 7.5–10 cm (3–3+7⁄8 in) long and 3–5 cm (1–2 in) thick, and vaguely resembling a ginger root in appearance, with a crisp and crunchy texture when raw. They vary in color from pale brown to white, red, or purple.
The public source identifies “Jerusalem artichoke” as species of sunflower native to eastern North America (for the root vegetable use Q55706475). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jerusalem, artichoke and species.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q146190. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jerusalem artichoke” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.