Despite its name, the Jerusalem artichoke has no relation to
Jerusalem, and it is not a type of
artichoke, though they are in the same family. The name Jerusalem is due to
folk etymology; when the Jerusalem artichoke was first discovered by Europeans it was called
Girasole, the Italian word for
sunflower. The Jerusalem artichoke is a type of sunflower, in the same genus as the garden sunflower
Helianthus annuus.
Over time the name Girasole transformed into Jerusalem, and to avoid
confusion some people have recently started to refer to it as
sunchoke or
sunroot[citation needed], which is closer to the original Native American name for the plant.
The artichoke part of the Jerusalem artichoke's name comes from the taste of its edible
tuber.
Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer, sent the first samples of the plant to France, noting that its taste was similar to an
artichoke.
