vegetable oyster

American  

noun

1. salsify.

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vegetable oyster British  

noun

1. another name for salsify

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Etymology

Origin of vegetable oyster

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20

Example Sentences

Salsify, oyster plant or vegetable oyster is a root of easy culture and of high food value.

From Farm Gardening with Hints on Cheap Manuring Quick Cash Crops and How to Grow Them by Anonymous

Description.—The vegetable oyster plant, sometimes called purple goat's-beard, or salsify, is indigenous to some portions of Great Britain.

From Science in the Kitchen. by Kellogg, Mrs. E. E.

Salsify, or vegetable oyster, is another vegetable which would find great favour were it not so scarce and dear.

From Reform Cookery Book (4th edition) Up-To-Date Health Cookery for the Twentieth Century. by Mill, Mrs. (Jean Oliver)

Among the products of the order, may be mentioned chicory, lettuce, the artichoke, the vegetable oyster, arnica, chamomile-flowers, wormwood, absinth, elecampane, coltsfoot, taraxacum, oil of tansy, etc.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth

November 11th.—Now is the time to plant salsify, or the vegetable oyster, as it has been aptly named from its crustacean flavour so dear to herbaceous boarders.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, 1920-11-17 by Seaman, Owen, Sir