Helianthus tuberosus L. agg. in the Carpathian Basin: a blessing or a curse?

Helianthus tuberosus agg., an herbaceous perennial plant from the Asteraceae family, is native to North America and was introduced as a crop to Europe in the seventeenth century. The status of this plant has been rather controversial in the Carpathian Basin. This paper reviews its taxonomy, chorology, and ethnobotany in this region, using data obtained from herbarium specimens, ethnobotanical surveys performed in Transylvania, and data published earlier, documenting the invasive features of the plant since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Our results suggest that (1) Helianthus tuberosus agg. has been present in the Carpathian Basin from the nineteenth century, (2) its taxonomy is problematic since the first part of the nineteenth century; (3) ethnobotanical surveys confirmed that the plant’s tuber has been locally used mostly as a food in Transylvania, collected from cultivation. Overall, Helianthus tuberosus agg. is both a ‘blessing and a curse’ at the same time, it is a valuable crop with beneficial nutritional value, and also an environmentally dangerous invasive element for the diversity of the flora of the Carpathian Basin.