CHICORY, or Succonv (cichorium), a genus of plants of the natural order composites, sub-order Cichoracem, distinguished by bracts in two unequal rows, ibe enter always reflexed, the inner latterly becoinin" so, a nearly naked receptacle. r uovate striated achenia, and a pappus of two rows of minute scales. The species are few in number, herbaceous plants, full of milky juice, natives chiefly of the warmer temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere. The common C. or SI:GOOEY (C. intybux) is a perennial plant, found wild in Eng,land and most parts of Europe, growing in waysides, borders of fields, etc. It has a long carrot-like root, externally of a dirty or brownish yellow color, and white within. The stem rises to the height of 2 to 5 ft., branching, the leaves are runcinate, resembling those of the dandelion; the flowers sessile, axillary, in pairs, rather large, beautiful, generally blue, more rarely pink or white. C. is pretty exten sively cultivated, both in England and on the continent of Europe, for its roots. It is also cultivated for feeding cattle with its leaves. The blanched leaves are sometimes used as a salad, and they are readily procured in winter by placing the roots in a box with a little earth in a cellar.—To this genus belongs also the endive (q.v.).
C. has been used as a substitute for coffee, or to mix with coffee, for at least a cen tury.. The roots are pulled up, washed, cut into small pieces, and dried on a kiln, which leaves a shriveled mass not more than one fourth the weight of the original root. It is
then roasted in heated iron cylinders, which are kept revolving as in coffee-roasting, during which it loses about 25 to 80 per cent of its weight, and evolves at the same time a disagreeable odor, resembling burned gingerbread. An improvement to the C. during roasting is the addition of 2 lbs. of lard or butter for every cwt. of C., which Communi cates to it much of the luster and general appearance of coffee. It is then hand-picked, to remove chips of wood, stones, etc., and is reduced to powder, and sold separately as C. powder or C. coffee, or is added to ordinary ground-coffee, and is sold as a mixture. C. contains a good deal of sugar, but otherwise does not serve to supply the animal economy with any useful ingredient. It gives off a deep brown color to water, when an infusion is made, and hence its main use in coffee. Some people dislike the taste of C., and when largely used, it has a tendency to produce diarrhea; but many people pre fer to use coffee mixed with C. owing partly to the taste it communicates, but mainly to the appearance of strength which it gives to the coffee. The C. is liable to adulteration; and roasted beans, pease, carrots, parsnips, mangold-wurzel, acorns, horse-chestnuts, bis cuit, oak-bark tan, logwood and mahogany dust, and even the livers of horses and bul locks, are said to be employed in its adulteration.