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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-257
Black Salsify
Pseudopodospermum hispanicum
Black salsify is the better-flavored, more forgiving cousin of common salsify, and hardly grown in the United States. Its root can be left in the ground through a second season without turning woody, turning the bed itself into the pantry instead of demanding a narrow harvest window. Beyond the root - cooked, or roasted as a coffee substitute - the young shoots and flower buds are edible, and the growing plant is reputed to keep carrot root fly away from nearby carrots. It also tolerates light shade, so it can go where common salsify cannot.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 5–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Rhizosphere- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 36 in
- Mature spread
- 12–24 in
- Plant spacing
- 6 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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