Chicory: Pictures, Flowers, Leaves & Identification | Cichorium Intybus

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ChicoryCichorium intybus Prev Next Pause Resume

For comprehensive information (e.g. nutrition, health benefits, recipes, history, harvesting tips, etc.) please check out our Chicory PDF magazine.

Chicory is a perennial herbaceous plant with a blue or lavender flower. Its leaves are tastiest in the spring and autumn as the summer heat tends to make them taste a little bitter – but they are still edible. Toss them in a salad but before doing so, blanch them. They can be mixed with other greens to minimize their strong flavor. The mature green leaves can be used as a cooked vegetable.

Distinguishing Features

Chicory is a branching, scraggly-looking plant. It often stands out alone in gravel areas, or open weedy fields and the flowers only open on a sunny day.

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Flowers

The flowers are 2 to 4 cm. wide and are usually a bright, light blue. There are two rows of involucral bracts - the inner are longer and erect, the outer are shorter and spreading. Chicory flowers from July until October.

Fields of Nutrition has medicinal benefits and vitamin/mineral content of Chicory.

Leaves

At the base leaves resemble dandelion leaves then alternately spaced and much smaller as they get higher up on the stem.

Height

When full grown, chicory can reach heights that vary between 90 and 180 cm.

Habitat

Open areas, roadsides, grassy areas near parking lots, and 'weedy' fields all over Ontario and most of Canada and the U.S.

Edible Parts

Leaves and root. Although the flower is edible, it is very bitter.

Recipes

Sauteed Chicory Greens

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