Pediomelum esculentum, synonym Psoralea esculenta,[2] common name prairie turnip or timpsula, is an herbaceous perennial plant native to prairies and dry woodlands of central North America, which bears a starchy tuberous root edible as a root vegetable.

[b] The relative scarcity of the plant today compared to its previous abundance may be because most prairie has been converted to farmland or managed grassland.

[5] In spring, several densely haired stems emerge from the ground and reach up to 30 cm (12 in), bearing palmately compound leaves divided into five leaflets.

In early summer the plant produces abundant blue or purple flowers in terminal clusters 5 to 10 cm (4 in) long, leading to flattened, slender-tipped pods.

[6] Abundant under favorable conditions, palatable, and nutritious, the prairie turnip was once a wild-gathered staple food of the Plains Indians, especially the nomads, and of early European explorers.

Barry Kaye and D. W. Moodie describe the Native Americans’ use of it as food[13] as follows: "they eat it uncooked, or they boil it, or roast it in the embers, or dry it, and crush it to powder and make soup of it.

A sort of pudding made of the flour of the dried roots and with the serviceberries (Amelanchier alnifolia), after boiling together, is very palatable and a favorite dish.