Pseudopodospermum hispanicum
species of plant
Pseudopodospermum hispanicum, commonly known as black salsify or Spanish salsify, also known as black oyster plant, serpent root, viper's herb, viper's grass or scorzonera, is a perennial species of plant in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), cultivated as a root vegetable in the same way as purple salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius), also in the sunflower family. It is native to Southern Europe and cultivated as a crop in Southern and Central Europe. It grows on nutrient poor soils, dry pasture, rocky areas, in thickets and on limy or marly soils of temperate zones.
Description
Pseudopodospermum hispanicum is grown commercially as an annual, although it is a biennial plant. After a vegetative phase in the first year, the plant flowers in its second year and can reach a height of 60 cm with a stem diameter of 5 cm. The hermaphroditic flowers are insect-pollinated. The flower-head is terminal and consists of yellow ray florets. The stem is smooth and leafy and the leaves are lanceolate to ovate with entire margins. Black salsify forms a long cylindrical taproot with a brownish to black cork layer. If harvested young, the carrot-like roots are tender, long and tapered with shiny white flesh.
“Pseudopodospermum hispanicum” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Pseudopodospermum, hispanicum and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Pseudopodospermum hispanicum” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Pseudopodospermum, hispanicum and species 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 May 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q104783552. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pseudopodospermum hispanicum” 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.