Endive

Endive (Cichorium Endivia), a hardy annual plant belonging to the Compositcy and closely related to the Chicory (q.v.). It is indigenous in North China; was used as an esculent by the Egyptians at an early period; is mentioned by Ovid and Pliny as being so employed by the Romans; and was cultivated in England in 1548. It produces a cluster of large, sinuate, smooth-toothed leaves, either broad and slightly torn as in the Batavian variety (C. E. lat-ifolia), or narrow and finely curled as in the variety crispa. The leaves are bleached either by being tied up or by being covered by a pot to reduce their bitterness of taste, and are then used in salads and stews. The flower stalk grows two feet in height, and bears heads of pale blue ligulate florets. Endive may be sown, under glass, in January; or, in the open, from April to August, the plants being thinned, planted out when a month old, and bleached for 10 to 30 days before gathering.