The Lore of Common Chicory

In the early spring, I scattered various packets of wildflower seeds onto a strip of poor soil under my front windows. One plant grew ferociously and became so tall and heavy that it began to bend over in the wind and needed securing to the mature wisteria growing behind it. Now that the flowers have opened, I can identify it as Common Chicory (Cichorium intybus) and as you can see by the photo, is much appreciated by the hoverflies. So, what interesting titbits can I find out about Common Chicory?

Common Chicory was known well to the Romans and eaten by them as a vegetable or in a salad and is mentioned by the Roman poet Virgil and the naturalist, Pliny. According to Maud Grieve in her book, ‘A Modern Herbal’, the old herbalists’ considered the leaves to make a good poultice for swelling and inflammations with one herbalist, Parkinson in 1640 considering it to be a “fine, cleansing, jovial plant”. Grieve also says it is a good traditional remedy for jaundice, liver enlargement, gout and rheumatism. Moving onto other ‘ailments’ that can be helped by this plant, I came across this use in Gabrielle Hatfield’s book ‘Hatfield’s Herbal.’ she states that one 18th century use as noted by a knowledgeable woman of the time was that chicory could makes one’s breasts hard and firm again ‘like the paps of a maid’ whether they be originally “hanging or bagging”. In contemporary times, the leaves can be blanched and eaten, like the Romans, in salads and the seeds are often used as a coffee substitute or additive.

One thing I quickly noticed about my Chicory plant was that its flowers opened and closed at sunrise and during the afternoon and Maud Grieve states that the famous biologist, Linnaeus used this plant in his ‘Floral Clock of Uppsala’ (a list of 46 species of flowering plants whose blossoms open and close at particular times of the day and night) such was the regularity of the flowers opening and closing. My other herbal book by Roy Vickery (Vickery’s Folk Flora) doesn’t have much to say about Common Chicory except that in Yorkshire,it is known as swine-thistle and in Somerset, ‘Strip for Strip’.

Various other sources I have found on the internet say that if you wish to use the plant for magical purposes, the best time to collect it is at midday or midnight, on Midsummer or St James's Day and that no iron-containing tools should be used, else the plant will lose its magical powers. One of these magical powers is the ability to turn one invisible and to open locked doors into unseen worlds. The final bit of information I found was an old German tale which states that the flowers are said to represent the eyes of a young girl crying bitterly for her lost love.

So, it turns out that this strange, unknown visitor from a casually-scattered packet of mixed seeds has a rich and vibrant story behind it and one I am glad to have researched.