🥕 An edible root 🌱 A flowering plant

salsify

1 9.9

A garden plant that has long white roots and purple flowers

noun
/ˈsælsɪfaɪ/

: salsifí

She pulled a salsify root from the garden to use in her soup.

Examples

The restaurant served roasted salsify alongside potatoes and carrots.
In the spring, purple flowers appear atop the salsify plant.
I bought some salsify at the farmers' market.
Have you ever tried salsify in a soup?
The chef included salsify in the vegetable medley served with the main course.
During the winter, we often use salsify in hearty soups for extra flavor.
She harvested several salsify roots from her garden to prepare a delicious side dish.

Synonyms

oyster plant

vssalsify

8.8

A plant with a long white root that tastes like oysters when cooked

is cultivated mainly as a vegetable rather than for its taste

Tragopogon porrifolius

vssalsify

Specialized

9.9

A garden plant with purple flowers grown for its long root you can eat as a vegetable

is the common cultivated vegetable term rather than the scientific plant name

vegetable oyster

vssalsify

8.6

A plant with a root you can eat that tastes like oysters

is defined as a cultivated vegetable with definite edible white roots

Compounds

black salsify

8.9

A plant with long black roots that you eat as a vegetable

meadow salsify

9.9

A common weed with yellow flowers that grows near roads and in lawns

yellow salsify

9.9

A plant from Europe that lives many years with long narrow leaves and pale yellow flowers

Surface Forms

salsify singular

salsifies plural

Etymology

Salsify comes from a French name for the plant, salsifis. Think of sal- like 'salt' and the 'oyster plant' image: the plant has long white roots you can eat and purple flowers on top, so salsify means the Mediterranean plant that gives that edible root.