My Favorite Roadside Weed - Chicory

Chicory - Cichorium intybus

Once, when I was about 20, I picked a bunch of roadside flowers for a bouquet. The bright blue flowers of chicory were particularly tempting, but I didn't realize the toughness of the woody stems. Picking them ripped up my hands, as the roadside collection trip was a spur-of-the-moment whim. To my disappointment, the blossoms only lasted a few hours, falling from the stems. Since that time, I have be happy to simply enjoy the flowers creating a blue stripe along roadsides and highways.

Native of Europe, the roots of chicory have been used as a coffee substitute. Not liking coffee, I have not tried it.

These particularly blue flowers were "captured" at Ha Ha Tonka State Park along Highway D near a parking lot on July 21, 2021.

Common Crown Vetch - Securigera varia

Around highway embankments near bridges and overpasses, you can often see masses of Crown Vetch - verdant green dotted with pink flowers. This perennial plant sends its stems trailing along the ground until the ascent upwards to the sun. Crown vetch has been planted along steep road cuts and embankments, as it does a really good job of holding soil into place, and its low growth form does not impede line of sight.

It is also a really pretty plant. However, Crown Vetch is not native to the US, and was brought over from Europe.

Captured June 4 2021, Kill Creek Park.

Found along the edge of the prairie at the park,

The inflorescence (a cluster of individual flowers), with typical pea family flowers.

A Few Weeds

Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale

Captured June 5th along roadside in Lee Summit

European Plantain - Plantago lanceolata

Captured Parking Lot of Kansas Biological Survey. June 2 2021

Perfoliate Pennycress-Microthlaspi perfoliata. Captured near neighborhood pool in Lee’s Summit MO. June 5 2021