How to Grow and Care for Cichorium

Common chicory is used in a variety of culinary applications around the world, most commonly with coffee. It is occasionally also added during the beer-brewing process to inject a coffee-like flavor. The leaves can be boiled or eaten raw in salad or with pasta. Common chicory is also a simple livestock fodder. In European folklore, the small blue flowers could be used to magically open locked doors.

The cultivated endive is a year or two year long plant. In flowering condition it reaches stature heights of 30 to 70 cm (rarely up to 1.4 m ). It does not form closed heads of lettuce but rosettes from relatively thick leaves. The peduncle is club-thickened at the top. The heads consist only of tongue blossoms. Flowering is from summer to fall.

Cichorium pumilum is a Mediterranean species of plant in the dandelion tribe within the sunflower family . Like the two other species of Cichorium, its leaves are edible by humans. The plant produces bluish-violet flower heads and fleshy taproots.

Spiny chicory is a perennial herb renowned for its spiny, silver-green leaves that form a rosette close to the ground. It thrives in the rocky, sun-drenched habitats of the Mediterranean. During its blooming period, spiny chicory displays vivid blue flowers, contrasting with its foliage, making it distinguishable among other flora. The plant's deep taproot enables survival in arid conditions.