Chicory - Weed or Flower?

Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is one of the few perennial plants that flowers from June until the first frost in the fall. During a dry summer you may notice that there are patches of light blue-purple flowers everywhere. Even when brown grass surrounds these little islands of hope, the chicory is thriving.  Like its close relative, dandelion, chicory has a very long tap root.  It can reach moisture in the soil even when nearby shallow-rooted plants are dying of thirst.

Early in the growing season, chicory is only visible at ground level as a rosette of irregularly-toothed leaves. At this state it is remarkably similar to dandelion. I realize now that, while weeding, I have probably pulled up many chicory plants, thinking they were dandelions! Chicory plants can grow 3 to 5 feet high, with tough, spiky, branching stems. When cut, the stems are hollow, and contain a milky sap. Chicory is mower-resistant. If you keep cutting off the plant, the stems and flowers will grow back, but they will be so low to the ground that the mower blades might miss them.

According to the Ohio Perennial and Biennial Weed Guide, chicory "favors lime-rich soils, but tolerates a variety of soil types." It will grow just about anywhere, but "does not typically invade undisturbed natural habitats."  According to Susan Mahr, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison  "Each flower only blooms for a day; during hot weather they remain open only for a short time in the morning but on cooler or cloudier days may stay open nearly all day."

Chicory can be difficult to remove because it can resprout from pieces of the root.  Chicory seeds are heavier and larger than dandelion seeds, and lack "fluff," so they cannot be carried by the wind.  Thus, chicory is more likely to grow where the seeds are physically carried into disturbed areas such as roadsides, pastures, and waste areas. 

Chicory is a member of the aster family (Asteraceae), which also includes asters, daisies, the afore-mentioned dandelions, lettuce, marigolds, sunflowers, zinnias, and more. Chicory is also called blue daisy, blue sailor, wild bachelor's button, blue or Italian dandelion, or even coffeeweed, to list just a few of its many names. Chicory has been cultivated to produce salad greens (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum), including radicchio, radichetta, and Belgian or French endive. It has also been used as a forage crop for livestock in some parts of the world. 

Chicory is grown to produce inulin, the active ingredient in some fiber supplements. If you have ever been to New Orleans, you probably have had coffee mixed with chicory. This blend produces mixed reactions. Some people think it tastes like scorched coffee. On the other hand, if you are a New Orleans native, you would probably miss chicory if it were absent from your coffee.

If you are a native plant purist, you might be disappointed to learn that chicory is not native to the United States. The Ohio Weed Guide says that chicory originated in the Mediterranean. The species name, intybus, is derived from the Egyptian word for January. Chicory eventually became distributed throughout much of the world and was cultivated for centuries. Since chicory could be grown in parts of Europe where coffee could not, it was cheaper and more readily available. It was carried to America by European settlers in the 1700’s. Chicory has since become naturalized throughout the North American continent.

Is there any downside to having chicory growing on your property?  It will make your lawn look "straggly" during dry periods when you have not mowed your grass for a while. Mahr suggests that "maintaining a thick, healthy lawn through proper mowing, fertilization, and irrigation will prevent establishment of new chicory plants." Chicory is not known to be toxic but may cause contact dermatitis in humans.

Although not a Pennsylvania native plant, chicory is frequently visited by bees, flies, and butterflies. Even though it is considered a weed by many, to me chicory flowers look like blue daisies, and I think they are beautiful.