COMPOSITAE COMPOSITE FAMILY 
COMMON CHICORY. BLUE SAILORS 
Cichorium Intybus L. 
The Common Chicory or Blue Sailors is yearly becoming more 
common along roadsides and railroads and in other waste places. 
It is an immigrant from Europe and in this country ranges from 
Newfoundland to Minnesota and 
southwest. Its pulverized root has 
been extensively used as a substitute 
for or an adulterant of coffee. 
It is perennial from a long deep 
taproot, and its stem is stiff, with 
some stiff bristly hairs, much 
branched and 1-3 feet high. The lower 
leaves are 3-6 inches long, variously 
toothed or lobed and narrowed into 
long petioles. Those of the stem 
are much smaller, lanceolate or ob- 
long, lobed or entire, and have clasp- 
ing bases. 
The heads, 1-4 together in sessile 
clusters on the nearly naked branches, 
are numerous and very showy. They 
bloom from July to October, opening 
in the morning and closing usually 
by noon. The flowers are strap shaped 
and usually bright blue, though oc- 
casionally pink or white ones are 
found. Inner bracts of the involucre 
are about 8. The akenes are 5-angled 
and $-ribbed, and the pappus is com- 
posed of numerous small chaffy 
scales. 
Another immigrant with purple flowers that is becoming common 
along roadsides and railroads is the Salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius 
L., which has escaped from vegetable gardens, where its root is 
known as the familiar Oyster Plant. It has a smooth branching stem 
2-4% feet high, and grasslike clasping leaves. The large solitary 
heads are very showy, on peduncles that are very much thickened 
and hollow for 1-3 inches below them. The bracts of the involucre 
are usually longer than the flowers. The pappus is composed of many 
long feathery bristles, and the akenes are often more than 1 inch 
long, the outer covered with scalelike tubercles. 
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