Chicory-Aster Family

Coffee-weed, blue daisy, succory, blue sailor, blue dandelion, wild chicory, blue-weed

Chicorium intybus

Characteristics. This Mediterranean import is spread throughout North America. It is especially abundant in the northern and western states where it is a common roadside weed. The roots have been used as a substitute for coffee and the leaves have been used and cultivated as salad greens; however, there are recorded cases of allergic reactions (dermatitis). This weed is grown from seed with flowering occurring July through September.

Identifying Characteristics. One of these showy weeds or wildflowers - depending on your personal biases - now in bloom is chicory (Cichorium intybus). Where did it come from and how did it get so widely spread? Chicory is a member of the daisy family and a close relative of dandelion. It's a perennial herb with a long, dandelion-like taproot and a whorl of oblong, broadly toothed, milky-sapped leaves. When it flowers, it produces 3- to 5-foot tall, erect, zig-zagging flowering stems with vestiges of a few leaves and a profusion of sky-blue flowers.

The flowers are multi-petaled and produced during much of the late spring and summer period. The 50 cent-sized blossoms open as the day awakens but close as the heat of the day becomes intense. Plants remain in bloom for several months and a field of chicory viewed in the right light looks like a heavy fog settled in a valley. Like dandelion, the seeds are spread freely by wind. Also, like dandelion, the foliage is concentrated in a whorl of leaves just above the soil surface so plants tolerate highway department mowing without flinching.

This prostate growing perennial begins with a basal rosette adding numerous stems through the growing season. The rough leaves and deep taproot produce white milky sap that is bitter tasting. Rosettes are variable, but generally resemble those of dandelion. Leaves are pinnately lobed, 6 to 8 inches long, sparsely pubescent, sessile and clasp the stem.

The stems are ridged and often have red-purple longitudinal stripes.

The stark blue color, shape and black glandular structures in the middle of the flower are characteristic. In addition the 1 ½ inch diameter flower heads are born in the leaf axils.

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Like dandelion, chicory has been grown since ancient times as a pot herb. Until recently, chicory seems to have enjoyed limited use in the American cuisine, except for areas with a large ethnic population from southern Europe. When most of us think of chicory, we are thinking of coffee, not vegetable greens. The use of roasted chicory roots as an adulterant for coffee seems to be a French thing, possibly starting during the Napoleonic era when supplies of coffee were disrupted during the Revolution. In the U.S., chicory-laced coffee is found primarily in New Orleans.

The principle ingredients of chicory root are two polysaccharide, inulin and fructose. When roasted, inulin is converted to oxymethylfurfurol, a compound with a coffee-like aroma.

Two bitter principles found in the root, lactucin and lactucopicrin, were shown in a lab-rat experiment half a decade ago to have sedative properties. Apparently, the claims that chicory-laced coffee counteracts the stimulant properties of caffeine trace back to this report. The current coffee craze that is sweeping the land had its roots in Seattle, not New Orleans, so you'll have to travel south or buy your brew over the Internet if you want that Cajun specialty.

Characteristics Important in Control: These are perennial plants with a deep, strong root, making physical pulling difficult. They grow easily in very dry conditions and hard packed soils.