wild chicory, popular names are petrovsky batogy, petriv batozhok, blue batіzhok, tsikhorіy.
Compositae family – Asteraceae (Compositae).
Roots are medicinal raw materials.
It occurs throughout Ukraine, but is almost absent in the mountains. Grows on roadsides, meadows and slopes, beams, often near villages, in yards, streets, squares, parks, young deposits. In some places it forms sparse thickets, but more often grows in small groups.
Stocks of raw materials are large. Tens of tons of roots can be harvested annually. It is advisable to produce industrial blanks in Khmelnitsky, Vinnitsa, Kirovograd, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkov, Voroshilovgrad, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk regions.
Common chicory is a perennial with a thickened spindle-shaped multi-headed root up to 1.5 m long. One (or several) stem, 30-150 cm high, vertical, splayed-branched; covered with sparse hairs. Basal leaves are pectate-lyre-shaped, narrowed into a petiole; stem – sharp-toothed, sessile, with a wide semi-stem-embracing base; upper – lanceolate, whole. The flowers are all reed, blue, in baskets in the axils of the leaves, on the tops of the stem and branches. Fruits – achenes, three-, five-sided, bare, brownish, with a short tuft of small fused films. Blooms in June – August. The fruits ripen in August-September.
The roots are harvested in autumn (September-October), digging with shovels or plowing with a plow when standing more densely. They are selected with their hands, shake off the ground, cut off the aerial parts with knives and wash in cold water. Thick roots are cut lengthwise, and long ones are cut across into pieces.
Dry in ovens or dryers, spreading a thin layer (3-4 cm) on the grates.
The raw material consists of whole or cut, strongly wrinkled roots, brownish-gray on the outside, white or yellowish on the inside. There is no smell. The taste is bitter.
Dry roots are packed in linen-jute bags. Store in dry, well-ventilated areas on pallets or racks. The roots contain bitter substances, inulin (up to 60%), sugars, resins. They are used as bitterness to excite the activity of the digestive organs. Used in the food industry as a substitute for coffee.