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Scorzonera judaica is a perennial geophyte in the daisy family with yellow flowers, native to desert and steppe regions from the eastern Mediterranean to Afghanistan. It grows from a tuber and sends up leaves after the first rains, so it is best treated as a dry-season-dormant wild plant.
Scorzonera judaica, commonly called Jordanian viper's grass, Judean viper's grass, or what was earlier known as salsify, is a species of geophyte of the family Asteraceae with yellow flowers. It is native to the eastern Mediterranean as far as Afghanistan.
Scorzonera judaica has a broad geographical area, stretching from the sub-desert and steppe regions of the western part of the Irano-Turanian Region: Anatolia, Transcaucasus, Syria, Israel, Jordan, northern Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. It is the only species of its genus that thrives in desert regions, with all other similar species growing in high mountainous elevations in the Middle East and in Asia. In Israel, it typically grows on the slopes of the Judean Desert and in the northern Negev.
The taproots of this herb are edible and eaten raw when young, but in age they require either cooking or roasting first. In the autumn of the first or second year, the roots can be prepared by being thoroughly rinsed, sectioned and boiled in salt water for a few minutes, then sautéed in a frying pan with a dash of olive oil. A palatable soup can be made from 20 roasted corms, flavored with spring onions, olive oil and a dash of salt.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Scorzonera judaica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
