salsify

noun, plural sal·si·fies.

1. a purple-flowered, composite plant, Tragopogon porrifolius, whose root has an oyster-like flavor and is used as a culinary vegetable.

noun plural -fies

1. Also called: oyster plant, vegetable oyster a Mediterranean plant, Tragopogon porrifolius, having grasslike leaves, purple flower heads, and a long white edible taproot: family Asteraceae (composites)
2. the root of this plant, which tastes of oysters and is eaten as a vegetable

n.biennial plant, 1710, from French salsifis, earlier sercifi, sassify (16c.), probably from Italian erba salsifica, from Old Italian salsifica, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Latin sal “salt” + fricare “to rub.”