Yacón
species of plant
The yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a species of daisy traditionally grown in the northern and central Andes from Colombia to northern Argentina for its crisp, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots. Another name for yacón is Peruvian ground apple, possibly from the French name of potato, pomme de terre (ground apple). The tuber is composed mostly of water and various polysaccharides.
Description
Yacón is a perennial herb that grows up to 2.5 metres (8 feet) tall. The stem is cylindrical to angular and hollow when the plant is mature. Leaves are opposite and deltoid. Their upper surface is hairy. Underground tubers consist of branching rhizomes and up to 20 tuberous storage roots. The rhizomes continually produce leafy shoots, while the storage roots are the principal economic product of the plant. The storage roots are up to 25 centimetres (10 inches) long, 10 cm (4 in) wide, achieving a weight of 0.2–2 kilograms (0.44–4.4 pounds), and have varying skin colours.
“Yacón” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yacón, species and plant can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Yacón” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Yacón, species and plant provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1075177. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yacón” 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.