CHICORY. SUCCORY. WILD BACHELOR'S-BUTTON.
Cichorium Intybus, L. Composite Family.
Stems.—Two to five feet high; much branched. Leaves.—Alternate; the lower oblong or lanceolate, partly clasping, sometimes sharply incised; the upper reduced to bracts. Flower-heads.—Bright blue; sessile; two or three together in the axils of the leaves or terminal; of ray-flowers only. Rays.—Ten lines long; about two wide; notched at the tip. Bracts of the involucre in two series; green. Hab.—Escaped from cultivation in many places.
The most careless observer will some day have his attention startled into activity by a certain tall, fine plant growing along the roadside, bearing beautiful, ragged blue flowers closely set to its stem. This is a stranger from over the seas, whose native home is England; and, like all English, it is an excellent colonist, having pushed its way into most parts of the civilized world. It has become quite plentiful among us in the last few years, and whole fields may often be seen covered with its lovely bright-blue blossoms, which are known as "ragged sailors," and "wild bachelor's-buttons." They open in the early morning, closing by midday. In Europe a popular belief is rife that they open at eight o'clock in the morning and close at four in the afternoon.
[COMMON MILKWEED—Asclepias Mexicana.]
![[COMMON MILKWEED—Asclepias Mexicana.]](#3624944100741987669_f120.png.id-5145637243443028831.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
"On upland slopes the shepherds mark The hour when, to the dial true, Cichorium to the towering lark Lifts her soft eye, serenely blue."
The plant is useful in several ways. Its root is boiled and eaten as a vegetable; the leaves, when blanched, make an excellent salad; and the whole plant was formerly employed in medicine, and is still considered a valuable remedy for jaundice. But the most common use of it is as a substitute for coffee, or as an adulterant of it. The fleshy, milky root is dried, ground, and roasted, and though it has neither the essential oil nor the delicious aroma of coffee, it is not an unpleasant beverage, and its cheapness brings it within the reach of the very poor.
The chicory industry has grown to be of considerable importance in California of late. The plants are grown in reclaimed tule land near Stockton, where there is a factory for the conversion of the root into the commercial article.