Ontario
Weeds: Chicory
Table of Contents
- Name
- Other Names
- Family
- General Description
- Stems and Roots
- Flowers and Fruit
- Habitat
- Related Links
Name: Chicory, Cichorium intybus
L.,
Other Names: CICIN, chicorée sauvage,
Blue daisy, Blue sailors, Coffee-weed, Common chicory, Wild succory,
chicorée.
Family: Composite or Aster Family (Compositae)
General Description: Biennial or usually
perennial, reproducing only by seed. It is distinguished in rosette
and non-flowering stages by its coarse, rough-hairy leaves superficially
resembling Dandelion leaves, and when in flower, by its large, showy,
blue flowers in stalkless clusters along the branches.
Photos and Pictures
|
Chicory. A Base of second-year plant. |
B. Stem. C. Flowering branch.
|
Stems & Roots: Stems erect, 30 - 150
cm (1 - 5 ft) high, usually with stiff spreading branches, hollow, rough-hairy
especially on the lower part; first-year plants without a stem but forming
a thick, vertical taproot and a large rosette of leaves; leaves of the
basal rosette large. coarse, resembling Dandelion leaves but rough-hairy;
stem leaves similar but smaller, alternate (1 per node), and bases of
upper leaves clasping the stem.
Flowers & Fruit: Flower heads bright
blue and very showy, stalkless or on short stalks in clusters along
the branches, numerous; each head 3 - 4 cm (1¼ - 1¾ in.)
across; only ray (strap-shaped) florets present; these blue, occasionally
pinkish or whitish; seeds short, angled, top-shaped but lacking a tuft
of hair at the tip; sticky white juice usually present in stems and
leaves. Flowers from July to late autumn.
Habitat: Chicory occurs throughout Ontario
in waste places, fence lines, roadsides and occasionally in gardens.
Related Links
... on general Weed
topics
... on weed identification, order OMAFRA Publication 505: Ontario Weeds
... on weed control, order OMAFRA Publication 75: Guide To Weed Control
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