Black salsify as perennial lettuce

[nicolas]

Black salsify (Scorzonera hispanica) can be grown as perennial lettuce. Carole Deppe talks a little about it in Breeding Your Own Vegetables, and it seems to have some breeding works toward that, but i cant find any info.

It is also a good screening project as there are several cultivars bred for improved roots.

[Graham]

I grew out some Scorzonera a few years back after reeding Breeding Your Own Vegetables, but it wasn't to my taste. would need a lot of selection to get anywhere close to lettuce in my view.

[ottawagardener]

This is a project I'm interested in. I've been hoping to find some larger leaves with less hair.

[darrenabbey]

How hard is it to get seeds and what size are the seeds?

[khoomeizhi]

not hard to get the seed produced. got to be there to get it at the right time between not being ripe enough and being dry enough to drop off. the seeds are long and thin, maybe a half-inch long and less than a sixteenth wide. dispersed by wind.

i've got seed from a mass cross i initiated (four cultivars flowering simultaneously). planning on growing most out and selecting (perhaps into multiple groups, with leaves and roots in mind) next year.

[gregmartin]

Telsing you've probably seen Oikos' Black Scorzonera but just in case here's the link. I have it but I haven't tasted it yet....to do in 2015.
www.oikostreecrops.com/Perennial-Vegetables/Greens/Black-Russian-Improved-Scorzonera/p-156-163-877/