Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

Synonyms: Cichorium intybus var. foliosum, Cichorium intybus var. sativum

Common Names: Blue sailors, coffeeweed, succory, common chicory

Description:

Habit: Biennial or perennial herbaceous plant that can grow from 1-5 ft (0.3-1.5 m) tall.

Leaves: Rosette leaves are 2-6 inches long, oblong with rough hairs on both the upper and lower surfaces. Margins shallowly toothed or deeply dissected. Lance-shaped stem leaves are small, sparse, alternate, and clasping with margins either smooth or slightly toothed.

Stems: Erect, round, hollow, nearly leafless, green to reddish brown in color. They produce a milky sap when cut and the lower parts are hairy.

Flowers: Showy clusters on upper branches. Bright blue in color with toothed squared ends. Typically bloom in the morning and close later in the day.

Fruit and seeds: Fruits are about 0.13 in. (0.3 cm) long, dark brown in color and wedge shaped. Each contain one seed. Capable of producing close to 3000 seeds per plant.

Habitat: Native to Africa, Europe and Asia. Can be found along roadsides, railroads, disturbed sites, waste ground and cultivated fields.

Reproduction: By seed.

Similar species: Showy blue lettuce (Mulgedium pulchellum)

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org). Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

---