When flowering, chicory has a tough, grooved, and more or less hairy stem. It can grow to 1.5 metres tall. The leaves are stalked, lanceolate and unlobed; they range from 7.5–32 centimetres in length (smallest near the top) and 2–8 cm wide. The flower heads are 3–5 cm wide, and usually light blue or lavender; it has also rarely been described as white or pink. Of the two rows of involucral bracts, the inner is longer and erect, the outer is shorter and spreading. It flowers from March until October. The seed has small scales at the tip.