This vegetable plant has nothing to do with Jerusalem, nor is it closely related to the artichoke. The plant Soon after its introduction from America to Europe in the early 17th cent., it was apparently imported to Britain from Italy, and girasole is the Italian word for a sunflower probably under the name girasole articiocco meaning ‘sunflower artichoke’. Folk etymology changed girasole to Jerusalem, while a supposed similarity of flavour to the artichoke produced the second part of the name