The entire chicory plant is permeated by a white milky substance, a sap or white latex. Blue blooms, in small clusters, punctuate its far-reaching gangly stems. Maud Grieves tells us that “Linnaeus used the chicory as one of the flowers in his floral Clock at Uppsala, because of its regularity in opening at 5 a.m and closing at 10 a.m in that latitude. Here it closes about noon and opens between 6 and 7 in the morning.” As some of its folk names imply, the chicory flowers follow the sun.

Chicory was eaten as a vegetable in Roman times, and its root is often used as the medicinal part of the plant; it was used as a laxative, a poultice and for its diuretic effects. It is also a well-known substitute for coffee. Chicory contains inulin, a sugar substitute, and is part of the preparation of Bach flower remedies. In European folklore it is associated with opening doors, removing obstacles and granting invisibility.