Found in moist soils along streams, woodland edges, prairies and roadside ditches, flowering in August and September. It is uncommon on the floodplain at Fontenelle Forest and Neale Woods.

Rough, sandpapery stems and broader leaves separate Jerusalem Artichoke from other “flatheads” with a yellow disk, such as Maximilian (Helianthus maximiliani) and Sawtooth Sunflowers (Helianthus grosseserratus), which flower at the same time. Its preference for moist lowland sites, larger size, more numerous branches and flower heads, and winged leaf stalk are helpful in separating it from Hairy Sunflower (Helianthus hirsutus), a plant of upland woods and edges.

The French explorer, Champlain,  reported cultivation of this plant for its edible tubers by Native Americans as early as 1605. Gilmore states they were an important food source for local tribes as well. Lewis and Clark dined on tubers Sacagawea dug when in present day North Dakota, and they are still marketed commercially as a vegetable.

More than one explanation for the title Jerusalem exists.  Perhaps the best one indicates it is a modification of girasole, the Italian word for sunflower.  The artichoke-like taste of the tubers likely prompted the last half of its common name, believed by some to have originated with Champlain.  It has a number of other common names including Sunroot, Sunchoke, Topinambur and Earth Apple.