Jerusalem Artichoke
| Botanical Name | Helianthus tuberosus |
| Common Names | Jerusalem artichoke, sunchoke, topinanbour |
| Family | Asteraceae/Compositae (aster/daisy Family) |
Jerusalem artichokes were cultivated by Native Americans who introduced them to the first white settlers in the early 1600s.
Jerusalem artichoke grows wild in North America from Saskatchewan, east to Ontario and south to Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee. Its original distribution is not clear because it was widely spread by Native Americans who cultivated it for the edible tubers. The original range probably was the northern Great Plains of Canada and the U.S. Jerusalem artichoke grows in moist soils in old fields, along roads and the edges of forests.
Jerusalem artichoke is an attractive sunflower that works well in perennial borders and naturalistic gardens. It is a little rangy and awkward, and perhaps not well suited to tidy or formal gardens. Most gardeners relegate them to a back corner of the vegetable garden. The flowers are very attractive to butterflies and the seeds are eaten by finches and other songbirds.