Cichorium Intybus, Chicory

Day 289: As non-native plants go, Chicory (Cichorium intybus) definitely has redeeming merits. Although well within the range of "pastel," its flowers are intensely blue, striking when erupting on its stiff, wiry stems. It grows in waste places, in vacant lots where hard-packed, dry soil supports little else but invasives. Its thick roots can be ground and used as a substitute for coffee, although when used as the sole ingredient, the resultant beverage is rather too bitter for most tastes. The roots are also used to flavour certain ales and stouts. Subspecies also provide edible buds and leaves. That said, as a non-native species, this cheerful, colourful flower is considered a pest in western Washington. May the gods of botany forgive me, I wouldn't mind it "pestering" the Barren Wasteland at all, but my attempts to transplant it have been futile.