Common chicory,
Cichorium intybus, is a somewhat woody,
perennial herbaceous plant of the dandelion family, usually with bright blue
flowers, rarely white or pink. Many varieties are cultivated for
salad leaves, chicons (
blanched buds), or roots (var.
sativum), which are baked, ground, and used as a
coffee substitute and additive. It is also grown as a
forage crop for
livestock. It lives as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe, and now common in North America, China, and Australia, where it has become widely
naturalized.
