Monday, August 15, 2011

Chicory

Last week I stayed with my Dad and there is a vacant lot next to his house that is chock full of chicory so I wandered over to take a few photos.  Whenever I see this flower I think "cornflower blue"  - is it purple or is it blue?  Either way I love seeing this beauty on the roadside in the summer. 

According to Wikipedia it is toxic to internal parasites and is often used as a coffee substitute.  I remember my advisor in graduate school used to drink chicory coffee and it tasted bitter and awful!  No doubt his worm burden was extremely low.  I think I much prefer admiring its beauty externally!

1 comment:

This Way and That said...

I've recently read that Chicory is very healing to the liver, as well as being an anti-inflammatory. There are articles posted on the National Institute of Health and on Science Direct.