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Endive (Cichorium endivia L.)

Varieties with different leaf shapes	Endive with flowering shoots

Source: Wolf-Garten; Bock D., MPI

Distribution, Yield, Use:

• Distribution:
  Grown in South-, West-, and Mid Europe, Egypt, Iran, North India, China, Japan, South Africa, Brazil and in the Carribean. Limited warmth requirements for a salad plant, but frost sensitive.
• Yield :
  500-700 kg/100m3
• Use:
  Salad vegetable
  Endive contains
  95% water, 2% carbohydrate, 1-2% protein, 0.2% fat.

Region of origin: Region of cultivation:

• Cultivation and Breeding:
  Endive grows wild in the whole mediterranean area. The leaves were already used in ancient times, predominantly for medicinal purposes. In the late middle ages, cultivation of winter endive as a salad vegetable developed in Europe. Head forming varieties with wide unserrated leaves (var. latifolium) or with deeply toothed curly leaf cover (var. crispum) have been bred. As a long-day plant, endive which is sown too early in summer forms flowering shoots rather than pronounced leaf rosettes.
• Breeding aims:
  The breeding aims largely conform to those of lettuce.

Text by Wolfgang Schuchert
Adapted to HTML by R.Saedler