Chicory Cichorium intybus Asteraceae—Aster ... - Nature Manitoba

<strong>Chicory</strong> <strong>Cichorium</strong> <strong>intybus</strong><br />

<strong>Asteraceae—Aster</strong> family<br />

by Tom Reaume © 2010 <strong>Nature</strong> <strong>Manitoba</strong><br />

Grant:<br />

A perennial wildflower 45–210 cm tall by 5–190 cm wide with<br />

a simple to branched taproot 10–20 cm long by 5–20 mm wide;<br />

side roots 2–5 mm thick; along roadsides, railways, hedgerows,<br />

field edges and other disturbed sites.<br />

l FLOWER HEADS blue to pale blue, blooming May–October;<br />

inflorescence a raceme with 9–180 separate clusters of one to<br />

nine subsessile heads alternating along branches, branchlets<br />

and upper stem; floral branches 6 (1–18), ascending, alternating<br />

every 1–12 cm along the stem, 1.5–120 cm long by 1–3<br />

mm thick, ridged, green, subtended by sessile leaves (bracts)<br />

1.2–16 cm long with auricles; longer branches with 3 (1–7)<br />

branchlets 11 (1–57) cm long; peduncles 2 (0.1–10) cm long,<br />

occasionally a flower head will terminate a bare upper branch<br />

(peduncle); upper stem 32 (6–46) cm long with 10 (5–15)<br />

clusters; flowering heads, open once in the morning and<br />

generally wilt in the afternoon, 2.3–4.6 cm wide by 10–15 mm<br />

long, 5 (0–30) open heads per day per plant, the first to open<br />

are at the apices of the shorter upper branches (peduncles)<br />

and only one flower head per cluster is open at once, with 12<br />

(3–23) days until another flower head opens at the same flower<br />

cluster; blooming sequence generally repeats itself from the<br />

base of a long branch to its tip; involucral bracts greenish<br />

red, hairy, some hairs gland-tipped, in two series: (1) outer<br />

involucral bracts 5 (6), each 5–7.3 mm long by 2–3 mm wide,<br />

slightly imbricate, ascending, bases thick, reflexed in fruit; (2)<br />

inner involucral bracts usually 8, each 7–11 mm long by 1–2<br />

mm wide, glandular-hairy, ascending as the fruit ripens, tan<br />

and dry when falling with a fruit stuck to its base; disc florets<br />

absent; ligulate florets perfect, 15 (11–21) per head, spreading,<br />

wilting and falling as a unit; ovary white, glabrous, 1.4–1.8<br />

mm long by c. 1 mm wide, flattened; pappi reduced to erect<br />

scales 0.2–0.3 mm long; corolla tube white, hairy above where<br />

it expands, 2–2.6 mm long by c. 0.6 mm wide; ligules soft and<br />

easily torn, 1.7–2.4 cm long by 4–6 mm wide, hairs scattered<br />

dorsally and mostly with a tear-shaped apical gland, apical<br />

teeth 5 (6), each 0.5–2.3 mm long; stamens 5, blue; anthers<br />

form a tube 3–5 mm long; pollen white; style c. 10 mm long;<br />

stigma 2-branched, these curled, blue and 2–2.3 mm long;<br />

flower to fruit 6–7 weeks.<br />

l FRUIT an achene, 1-seeded, dark brown, 2.2–2.8 mm long<br />

by 1–1.5 mm wide by 0.7–1 mm thick, with 4 or 5 ridges near<br />

the base; pappi of 28–45 imbricate scales 0.2–0.3 mm long.<br />

l LEAVES basal and stem, variable, simple, 3–10 lobes per<br />

side, these toothed along the leading edge; basal leaves in<br />

a rosette 15–51 cm across, ascending to spreading, 7–40 cm<br />

long by 2–13 cm wide, rough hairy; petioles winged, 1–3 cm<br />

long; stem blades (below branches) 3–15, alternate, petiolate<br />

to clasping above, 3–33 cm long by 0.9–11 cm wide, reduced<br />

above, hairy.<br />

l STEM erect, tough, ridged, branched, hollow, sometimes<br />

more than one from the apex of a stout taproot; 5–18 mm wide<br />

and very hairy near the reddish stiff base; juice thin, whitish.<br />

l RANGE: (CAN) 10 provinces; (USA) 20 states; absent in the<br />

SE and NW; naturalized in North America.<br />

Tangle of <strong>Chicory</strong> 60–120 cm tall on a windy July day<br />

along Ness Avenue in Winnipeg, <strong>Manitoba</strong><br />

flower<br />

on<br />

stem<br />

stem<br />

leaf<br />

taproot<br />

wilted<br />

flower<br />

head<br />

Plant 65 cm tall with 3<br />

open flower heads<br />

Flower head 3.8 cm wide<br />

from the side and below<br />

Stem cross-section<br />

x5; 9-ridged<br />

floral<br />

branch<br />

basal<br />

leaf<br />

ligule<br />

Flowering head 4 cm wide with<br />

17 ligulate florets and a visitor<br />

Ligulate floret<br />

x4; ventral side<br />

tooth<br />

ligule<br />

stigma<br />

anthers<br />

corolla tube<br />

pappus<br />

ovary

---

Flower head 3.8 cm wide;<br />

below<br />

Ligulate floret<br />

x4; dorsal side<br />

Flower head<br />

bud x2<br />

tooth<br />

ligule<br />

corolla<br />

tube<br />

pappus<br />

ovary<br />

inner<br />

bracts<br />

outer<br />

bract<br />

subtending<br />

bract<br />

ligulate<br />

floret<br />

inner<br />

Involucral<br />

bract<br />

side<br />

lobe<br />

1<br />

Left to right: (1) upper stem leaf 5 cm long (2) lower<br />

stem leaf (3) basal leaf 19 cm long; all in dorsal view<br />

Subtending<br />

bract x4; of<br />

flower head<br />

terminal<br />

lobe<br />

glandtipped<br />

hair<br />

inner outer<br />

Involucral bracts x4;<br />

of flower head<br />

ligule inner bract<br />

1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />

petiole<br />

Left to right: (1) flower head bud (2) flower head opening (3) open (4) closing<br />

(5) fruit ripening inside involucral bracts (6) bracts with apices spreading and ripe<br />

fruit inside (7) inner bracts drop with fruit at their base; 3 loose fruit<br />

2<br />

3<br />

fruit<br />

taproot<br />

node<br />

stem<br />

leaf<br />

basal<br />

leaf<br />

<strong>Chicory</strong> plant with two young stems<br />

from a 13 mm wide taproot<br />

Two basal<br />

leaves x0.8<br />

lobe

---

inner side outer side<br />

Tan inner involucral bract<br />

x6; with fruit at base<br />

dorsal (outer) ventral (inner) thick<br />

Fruit (a 1-seeded achene) x12<br />

cluster of<br />

several<br />

heads with<br />

fruit<br />

bract ligule<br />

Wilted <strong>Chicory</strong> flower<br />

head 2.5 cm wide in<br />

the afternoon of the<br />

day it opened<br />

pappus<br />

involucral bract<br />

Open fruit<br />

x13; with<br />

one seed<br />

inside<br />

Branch 20 cm long with two adjacent flowering heads; most flower<br />

heads past blooming<br />

pappus<br />

seed<br />

peduncle<br />

Terminal flower head on short<br />

upper branch is the first to open<br />

achene Fruit x25; above<br />

lobe<br />

midrib<br />

Two fruit clusters with tan<br />

open involucral bracts<br />

Branched root<br />

Basal leaf variation<br />

stem<br />

root<br />

branch<br />

Dorsal side of leaf with hairy<br />

midrib and one full lobe; leading<br />

edge of lobe often toothed<br />

New flower opening on left