salsify
(ˈsælsɪfɪ)
Also 7 salsifax, (salsfy), 8 sassafy, salsafay, 8–9 salsafy.
[a. F. salsifis (in the 16–17th c. variously sercifi, serquify, sassify, sassefy, sassefique, sassefrique), believed to be corruptly ad. It. sassefrica, of unknown origin. Cf. Sp. salsifi, Pg. sersifim.]
1. A biennial composite plant, the Purple Goat's-beard, Tragopogon porrifolius, indigenous to Great Britain and the Continent of Europe, producing an esculent root.
meadow salsify (U.S.): the Yellow Goat's-beard, Tragopogon pratensis (Britton & Brown Flora Northern U.S. iii. 269).
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Salsifie, (Fr.) Goats-bread [sic], an eatable root. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 482 Salsifie or Goats⁓beard. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Tragopogon..commonly call'd Salssafy or Sassafy. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery xiv. (1796) 229 So likewise you may dress root of salsify and scorzonera. 1767 Abercrombie Ev. Man his own Gard. (1803) 85 Salsafay is estimable both for its roots..and for the young shoots rising in the spring. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 201 Many of the species are useful articles of food;..for instance..the roots of..Tragopogon, or Salsafy. 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 287/2 The Salsafy (or Salsify)..is a hardy biennial, with long cylindrical fleshy esculent roots. 1882 Garden 11 Nov. 425/3 Salsafy..when boiled in milk or fried in butter..has a peculiar resemblance to oysters. |
2. black, † Spanish salsify, Scorzonera hispanica, producing a dark esculent root, used in the same way as salsify (sense 1).
| 1699 Evelyn Acetaria 61 Salsifax, Scorzonera. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 482 Spanish Salsifie or Scorzonera, is multiplied by Seed. 1891 Century Dict. s.v., Black salsify,..a related plant... It is similarly used, and its flavor is preferred by some. |