Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Common Chicory


Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is one of my favourite wildflowers, and with its beautiful periwinkle blue flowersit seems anything but common. I once tried to match a paint chit to its colour. With samples in hand, I went off to the fields to try to find which matched the best. I quickly realized this was an exercise in frustration. There was no one shade that could be matched, for not every chicory flower is the same exact shade of blue. Some had more purple in them, others more blue, in some the colours had faded somewhat. Chicory blooms are actually many different shades of periwinkle blue. Different shades but all a gorgeous colour.

Chicory is a perennial herb that grows wild along roadsides and in fields. It is also known as corn flower, blue sailors, succory and coffeeweed — the latter because of the use of its roots as a substitute for coffee. Chicory roots, when roasted and ground can be used to produce a bitter coffee-like beverage.

Chicory has many medicinal uses. Tea and juice from the plants’ flowers and leaves is said to clear the liver and treat gallstones, constipation, jaundice, and skin inflammation.

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