Part One: The Objective Perception Exercise
I have been observing Chicory growing in my home environment for over 15 years. I live on a vineyard in the Alexander Valley, in Sonoma County, California. Through this time, I have observed Chicory’s life cycle and growth through the seasons in the area I live, and closely watching a specific population on daily walks in the vineyard with my dogs.
Therefore, my observational data is strongly influenced by my local climate, ecology and land use. I have noticed that species can express distinct differences in growth, bloom cycle, etc, and so wish to preface all my observations with this awareness.
As I travel in my county, I see Chicory growing in specific types of soils and soil conditions. It seems to prefer heavier clay soils. It requires full sun to thrive.
It does not grow where there is regular soil disturbance from farming practices, such as in vineyards where the soil is regularly cultivated (plowed, harrowed, etc). However, it does grow very successfully in the roads and edges of cultivated land, and particularly seems to thrive in spots that have been heavily compacted by intention (such as when a water retention pond is created) or by use as roads (the soil being regularly driven over by tractors, trucks and farming equipment). It grows well in abandoned lots, edges of fields (not in the fields, but in areas that have been compacted by roadbuilding or have been driven on) and near railroad tracks.
Chicory tolerates and is not damaged by mowing or cutting. It maintains a primary rosette of leaves that stays below the level of high mowing, and will form new flowering stems late in the season.
The climate of Sonoma County is Mediterranean, with a distinct dry and wet season. For the most part, the rain comes during the winter and the summers are completely dry. Chicory thrives through the summers without any supplemental water. Rot can be an issue with other plants growing in heavy clay soils (which retain water for extended periods) but I have never seen a Chicory plant die after a wet winter.
The annual cycle
Sonoma County is wet in the winter, but not too cold. Alexander Valley is on the more extreme end of the county, with temperatures colder and hotter than in other sections that are closer to the coast. If it is not raining, temperatures are often freezing overnight in the winter. A typical low temperature for winter is low 20’s F, but this is not the daily norm.
High temperatures have been higher in recent years, with stretches well into the 110-5 degrees F. A more common pattern is to have significant temperature swings, with it cooling off overnight and warming up during the day. A 40-50 degree temperature shift is not unusual, especially during the fall.
In winter, I observe Chicory with small leaves closely clustered around the root. The leaves are evergreen and tolerate freezing without any issues.
The flowering stems from the season remain, turning brown but not falling. The older and larger the individual plant is, there are more and larger stems.
Once spring arrives, the leaves grow larger and longer, but the new flower stems for the year emerge later, and flowering begins once the grasses have begun to dry in June. Flowering is peak in summer, but continues until the first significant frost.
On older and more established plants flowering stems continue to emerge even in the fall, with new flowers opening. Plants such as these will have dry brown flowering stems and fresh green ones emerging from the center of the plant. Later in the season the flowers show more pink color, sometimes almost a lavender color.
Chicory is a perennial, and I have observed individuals growing and slowly increasing in size over the 15+ years I have lived on this ranch. The population I have observed increases slowly, with new plants emerging (presumably from seed) nearby, but spaced widely enough to not crowd the parent plants, allowing the younger plants space to grow. These smaller plants grow slowly as well, are smaller in size (fewer and smaller leaves) and fewer and smaller flowering stems. Overall, the population grows without crowding its own members, or outcompeting other plants around it.
Because it prefers to grow in a compacted soil, it has few “competitors” for the space. Some annual grasses grow in the area, yellow dock, plantain, wild radish, and occasional mustard. Because it flowers later in the season, and the flower stems rise above the annual grasses, it has a clear field for blooming and pollinators find it easily.
Observation
Chicory grows from a deep tap root that increases slowly in size over its lifetime. As it matures, it supports a broader crown of leaves and increasing numbers of flowering stems.
Leaves are similar to the shape of dandelion leaves, with pointed edges on an elongated leaf. The color can vary from a deep reddish green with reddish midrib to a paler green with slightly purple midrib. Leaves are smoother on top, but overall have some prickly hairs, especially on the ribs. The older leaves become more weathered, tougher, bumpier over the course of the season, which may be part of the effect of the hot and dry climate.
Leaves grow directly from the root on a stem, the leaves growing on the flowering branches are sessile (emerging without any stem). When broken, leaves and stems exude a milky sap.
Flowering stems emerge in all around the crown of the plant, up through the foliage and extending above and beyond the leaf base. Stems grow roughly knee height (or a bit taller), and have smaller leaves at each branching node. These leaves become smaller, more narrow and less lobed the further up the flowering stem they occur.
Stems are upright and branching, spreading but also interweaving with other stems. They are the same green to green-gray as the leaves, and have an almost skeletal appearance if the flowers are closed. They remain green while the flowers open, forming flowers first on the lower parts of the stem, then on the upper sections as the season continues. Once a stem has completed flowering, the stem becomes brown, but does not fall from the plant. New green flowering stems emerge over the season and grow up through the brown completed stems.
The stems are very resilient to injury. They can tolerate vehicle traffic, be crushed down but can continue to grow and bloom. They bend but do not break, even when brown and dry.
The flowers appear in late May and June, with flowering continuing on a smaller scale until frost ends the growing season. The flowers are a distinct shade of sky blue, and open up in the mornings and close before the heat of the day. The blue petals are slightly lighter at the center of the flower, and the stamen and anthers are also blue. Many insect pollinators visit the Chicory flowers.
The flowers are fixed in the nodes of the stems and do not follow the sun (not heliotropic).
When the flower has been pollinated, the petals dry and brown, remaining closed around the center of the flower. These structures remain on the flowering stem and do not fall in maturity.
I am intentionally not digging up a plant to examine a root, which would kill the plant.
Elemental factors
The primary element I associate with Chicory is air. The overall signature of the flowering stems, rising above the base in a broad but insubstantial frame seems in alignment with my understanding of air element. The stems have great flexibility and allow movement (even the extreme movement of being crushed under tires). The flowers themselves open and close in a daily cycle, like an inbreath and an outbreath.
The earth element is also strongly present in Chicory, showing up in the strong and deep taproot that stores life below the ground. This character of continuity and stability speaks of earth, and the Chicory family is known for a bitter character when eaten. Bitter flavors support digestion and integration of nutrients, which are earth characteristics.
Fire is a secondary element, in that the Chicory manages fire element well by drawing in its flowers when the sun is high in the sky. It also tolerates heat and drought by holding moisture in the root and enduring long dry seasons.
Water element shows up in the blue color of the flowers, and in the ability to store moisture in the root.
Part Two: The Imaginative Perception Exercise
As I sit and look over the family of Chicory growing near the pond, I notice the leaves growing close to the ground. These have escaped the string trimmer and the flowering stems rise above, brown and skeletal, yet still flexible and pliant.
Chicory are good neighbors, to each other and in the area they grow. They don’t try to outcompete, take over, get too big. They just settle in, give each other space, and grow.
The stems are swaying gently in the breeze. We are heading into winter now, the ground is soaked from a recent storm. I’m remembering how these plants looked in summer.
Chicory in bloom creates a chorus. They sing together, not overwhelming each other. Flowering stems intertwine in support, they don’t damage each other by interweaving. They intertwine, allowing every node and flower to get light and space. The overall expression is group harmony – space for all to thrive.
The aboveground character is spacious, airy, celestial blue.
Below ground is deep, penetrating, focused growth in the most difficult compacted soil, overcoming where others cannot grow deeply.
The middle space, the interface between earth and air – the crown of leaves. The leaves are edible but bitter – the character of struggle, difficulty, surmounting hardship, yet sustaining.
Attunement
Our expression, our signature is of surmounting great difficulty, with grace, with connectedness, and always with the greater truth of the spiritual plane in mind.
We grow deep, where others cannot, so we tend our own being as well as our kin. Through our efforts we improve circumstances for future generations.
Our ability to endure, and to thrive over many many cycles is part of our character. We can get through, dig deep to survive, but also to repair that which has been hurt. Our roots hold wisdom, the wisdom of endurance, of time, but also of joy in its season.
We are not made dour by our difficulty.
We take comfort and support in our family, our community, and steadily work to make things better, simply by being ourselves. Our life itself is a boon for all those we touch. Our life is a benefit for the place we live.
Our aboveground character is of air – we embrace spaciousness, expansion, and reflect the heavens in our flowers. We draw down the air in our celebration and restore balance to the soil by our rooting.
Part Three: Literature Review
CHICORY
by John Updike
Show me a piece of land that God forgot—
a strip between an unused sidewalk, say,
and a bulldozed lot, rich in broken glass—
and there, July on, will be chicory,
its leggy hollow stems staggering skyward,
its leaves rough-hairy and lanceolate,
like pointed shoes too cheap for elves to wear,
its button-blooms the tenderest mauve-blue.
How good of it to risk the roadside fumes,
the oil-soaked heat reflected from asphalt,
and wretched earth dun-colored like cement,
too packed for any other seed to probe.
It sends a deep taproot (delicious, boiled),
is relished by all livestock, lends its leaves
to salads and cooked greens, but will not thrive
in cultivated soil: it must be free.
Botanical Information
Plant description:
(from Weeds of the West, Whitson Ed.)
Cichorium intybus, Asteraceae
“Chicory is a perennial, with milky juice, growing from a deep taproot. Stems are 1 to 6 feet tall with spreading branches. Leaves are rough, basal leaves in rosette, oblanceolate, petiolate, toothed or often pinnately parted, and 2 to 10 inches long. Upper leaves become reduced, sessile and even entire. Flowering heads are borne 1 to 3 together in the axils of much reduced upper leaves. Flowers are usually blue, but sometimes purple or occasionally white, up to 1.5 inches across. Fruits are weakly angled or ribbed, tipped by a crown of minute scales.”
“Chicory is a native of the Mediterranean region, but now is cosmopolitan in the northern hemisphere. It is widespread along roadsides and disturbed sites, having been planted by man for use as salad greens and the root as a substitute for coffee. Flowering occurs from July to September.”
From the entry on Cichorium intybus on Wikipedia
“Chicory is native to western Asia, North Africa and Europe. It was brought to North America by early European colonists. It has also become naturalized in China and Australia.
Chicory has been cultivated but also naturalizes (becomes a weed). It grows in disturbed areas but “typically does not enter undisturbed natural areas”. “
The Asteraceae Family
Commonly defined as the Sunflower family, the Asteraceae are one of the largest plant families with over 32,000 species included. Their primary characteristic is compound flower heads, with up to hundreds of individual flowers bundled together, appearing as one flower.
Flower essence representatives from this family are plentiful and include Arnica, Echinacea, Chamomile, Dandelion, Yarrow, and of course, Sunflower.
With such a large family, and a great diversity of expression of flower essences, the family themes can only be broadly summarized. Major characteristics of the soul healing qualities are a development of self within the context of community, the evolvement of consciousness, and connection to true purpose within one’s lifetime.
As the sole member of Asteraceae represented within Dr Bach’s flower essences, Chicory holds an important place. He placed Chicory in the 12 Healers, as a major remedy.
The qualities he associated with Chicory were placed on the pole of restraint (as the failing) and love (the virtue). In Julian Barnard’s book Bach Flower Remedies, Form and Function, he states “Bach noted this when observing that they want to love and bless the whole world but feel constrained by those nearest to them.”
Herbal and Medicinal Qualities
Chicory is edible, both leaves and roots are consumed. The root has been cultivated and used as a coffee substitute or extender, more often used during times of economic crisis. The leaves are eaten raw (they are usually bitter which increases as the season is warmer) or cooked like spinach.
From the Herb Society Blog:
“Chicory has been cultivated for thousands of years. Its name is thought to be derived from the Egyptian word “ctchorium,” where it was grown and irrigated by the flooding of the Nile. Many ancient herbalists and writers talked about chicory in their writings. In 16th and 17th century herbals, chicory was recommended for a number of ailments. Due to the sky-blue color of the flowers, Nicholas Culpepper recommended that chicory be used for “sore eyes that are inflamed.” Chicory is one of the bitter herbs of the Bible. Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer and naturalist described how Romans used the plant.”
From the blog of Kevin Healey, exploring ethnobotanical themes and foraged food:
https://www.pullupyourplants.com/archive/chicory
“The Cherokee people used chicory root infusion as a tonic to calm nerves; the Iroquois used a decoction of the roots to treat fever blisters. Much like the dandelion, chicory root is regarded as a safe diuretic even when used in large quantities for the use of dissolving kidney stones etc. The root of wild chicory was used extensively in the 17th century for “opening obstructions” by steeping the root in wine; the juice of the root and the leaves were also dried and powdered to counteract the effects of snakebites, and tuberculosis (referred to as “the King’s Evil”). Pliny the Elder made mention of the bitter leaves helping to aid in digestion.”
Chicory seems to have been broadly used everywhere it grew, as food and medicine. It is interesting that the the milky sap, in other plants an indicator of toxicity, is not a concern. The bitterness inherent in the leaves is even considered an asset in cuisines that celebrate bitter flavors.
It is also interesting to note Chicory has been used as a fodder plant for livestock, and animals who eat it have been noted to have reduced intestinal parasites.
Biochemistry and Physical Composition
From Wikipedia entry on Chicory:
“Substances which contribute to the plant’s bitterness are primarily the two sesquiterpene lactones, lactucin and lactucopicrin. Other components are aesculetin, aesculin, cichoriin, umbelliferone, scopoletin, 6,7-dihydrocoumarin, and further sesquiterpene lactones and their glycosides. Around 1970, it was discovered that the root contains up to 20% inulin, a polysaccharide similar to starch.
Inulin is mainly found in the plant family Asteraceae as a storage carbohydrate (e.g. Jerusalem artichoke, dahlia, and yacon). It is used as a sweetener in the food industry, with 10% of the sweetening power of sucrose and is sometimes added to yogurts as a ‘prebiotic’. It is also a source of dietary fiber. Fresh chicory root may contain 13–23% inulin as a percentage of its total carbohydrate content. “
The chemical characteristics that lend the bitter characteristics can be connected to the traditional use of bitter herbs as digestive aids. This combined with the inulin carbohydrate fits in well with the theme of “digesting” difficult or “bitter” experiences into sympathy and care for others.
History and Lore
Chicory is such a distinctive sight by the road, a rare pale blue color, that it is no surprise much lore can be found associated with it. The earliest legend seems to be Roman, here described by Kevin Healey:
https://www.pullupyourplants.com/archive/chicory
“According to Roman legend, chicory was originally a beautiful woman that the Sun fell in love with. The Sun asked this lady to marry him, but she refused his advances. Feeling slighted, the Sun took its revenge by turning the lady into the chicory plant, and she was thereafter condemned to watch him as he rose and set until the end of time.”
The story of chicory in Germanic legend is related by Kathy Keeler in her blog:
http://khkeeler.blogspot.com/2019/11/plant-story-chicory-roadside-blue.html
“Chicory is a European plant whose German names include Cichorienwegwarte and Gemeine Wegwarte. Wegwarte means “way waiter,” or, as better English, “waits by the road”. The Germans tell the story of the lovely blue-eyed maiden who waited for the return of the crusader who had pledged his love before departing to free Jerusalem. Weeks passed, and then months. Finally, her parents told her to find another man. “No!” replied, “I’d rather turn into a common wildflower than forget my love!” God granted her wish, turning her into the blue-flowered chicory, and she waits still.”
In both of these legends, the woman refuses the will of authority or society, and is cast out of humanity for doing so, being turned into a plant by the ultimate authority (God, or the Sun). A common, weedy plant that grows in ignored waste places, no less! She follows her heart, expresses her individual will, and is punished for it.
These stories seem to be cautionary tales to promote the obedience of women, to do what they are told lest they be shunned by society. And yet, the beguiling blue flower endures, attracting admiration, refusing to be ignored or forgotten.
Insights
I keep going back to my observation of where Chicory grows, both in my area and elsewhere, in ground that has been disturbed and compacted by human activity. John Updike’s poem expresses it so clearly, “the piece of land God forgot”. Being pushed to the edge of survivable ground feels like the “pressure cooker” dynamic in hierarchical societies, where the social need to control the behavior of the members is greater than the need for self-expression or autonomy in the individuals. Those of the lowest ranking are only allowed to take up the space in the margins, the least desirable portion, the “wretched earth”.
In these circumstances, they can become, as in Bach’s first descriptions of the remedy state “possessive, self-centered, hard-natured, spiteful, vindictive, and cruel”. Control states tend to “run downhill” in social hierarchies, and women and children tend to receive the brunt of the treatment. It is telling that many references to Chicory describe this essence state as “the needy mother”. Those who have less power in societies (usually the females) resort to more passive manipulations in order to express agency.
And yet, Chicory flower essence shows us a way forward, the celestial blue flowers have a gentle beauty that rises above the struggle, helping us soften into kindness to others, even possibly to ourselves.
