1. Cichorium intybus L. (common chicory, blue sailors)

Pl. 255 h; Map 1061

Plants perennial herbs, with a sometimes branched taproot. Latex white. Stems solitary to several, 30–150 cm long, erect or ascending, usually moderately branched, longitudinally ridged, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with curly, white, multicellular hairs, these sometimes with the base slightly broadened and flattened. Leaves alternate and basal, abruptly reduced above the stem base, the basal leaves mostly with a short to long, winged petiole, the stem leaves mostly sessile and clasping the stem. Leaf blades 1–35 cm long, mostly oblanceolate, ranging from pinnately several-lobed with irregular triangular lobes and rounded sinuses toward the stem base to entire toward the stem tip, the margins of the more divided leaves usually also irregularly toothed, glabrous or sparsely to moderately pubescent with minute, curly, white hairs along the margins and sometimes also the undersurface. Venation of 1 main vein and a faint, complex network of anastomosing secondary veins. Inflorescences panicles with ascending, spicate branches, sometimes reduced to a single spike or spikelike raceme or appearing as small, axillary, sessile clusters of heads. Heads sessile or short-stalked. Involucre 10–15 mm long, cup-shaped to broadly cylindrical, the bracts in 2 series, glabrous or sometimes with gland-tipped hairs, those of the outer series 4–6, about 1/2 as long as the inner series, ovate to narrowly ovate, somewhat thickened, hardened, and pale toward the base, spreading at the tip; those of the inner series 8–12, narrowly lanceolate to linear. Receptacle naked. Ligulate florets 12–30. Corollas 14–25 mm long, purplish blue to blue, rarely pink or white. Pappus a minute, low crown of numerous scales, these 0.1–0.2 mm long, irregularly truncate at the tip, white, persistent at fruiting. Fruits 2–3 mm long, oblong-ovoid in outline, not flattened, bluntly 5-angled, truncate at the tip, the surface sometimes with 8–10 shallow, longitudinal lines, minutely pebbled to finely cross-wrinkled, glabrous, brown to nearly black, sometimes finely mottled. 2n=18. May–October.

Introduced, common nearly throughout the state (native of Europe, introduced widely nearly worldwide). Pastures, railroads, roadsides, and open, disturbed areas.

The pretty blue flowers of chicory are a common sight along Missouri roadsides in the summer and fall. On sunny days, the heads are said to open in the morning and usually to close by noon, but this behavior is fairly variable. The mapped county voucher specimens grossly underdocument the actual distribution of C. intybus in the state. White-flowered (f. album Neum.) and pink-flowered (f. roseum Neum.) mutants occur sporadically within some populations.

The species has a long history of medicinal use as a laxative, diuretic, and antiseptic, and the young greens have been eaten raw or cooked (Vuilleumier, 1973). However, it is best known for the beverage and coffee adulterant prepared from the ground, roasted roots. More recently, the roots have provided a commercial source for inulin, a fructo-oligosaccharide that is used as a soluble fiber dietary supplement and as a bulking agent and fat substitute in some foods, especially some brands of yogurt (Kiers-van der Steen, 2000).