Wildcrafting 

You have to register before you can add new data to this site.
User Name:
Password:
  • Home
  • Browse Plants
  • Search Plants
  • Submit New Plant
  • All Marked Plants
  • Contact Us

 

Lactuca serriola


Pan to Address: 

Lactuca serriola
  • Scientific Name: Lactuca serriola
  • Common Name: prickly lettuce
  • Symbol: LASE
  • Category: Dicot
  • Genus: Lactuca
  • Family: Asteraceae
  • Family Common Name: Aster family
  • Order: Asterales
  • Class: Magnoliopsida
  • Subkingdom: Tracheobionta
  • Kingdom: Plantae
  • Duration: Annual, Biennial
  • Growth Habit: Forb/herb
  • Native Status: L48 (I), HI (I), CAN (I)
  • Edible: unknown
  • AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA ME MI MN MO MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WV WY

    Prickly Lettuce


    To view more pictures on this plant, click the "All Images" tab above.
    To view or mark new locations where this plant can be found, click the "Locations" tab above.
    To view USDA data, click the "USDA" tabs above.


  • Scientific Name: Lactuca serriola
  • Common Name(s): Prickly Lettuce
  • Edible: yes
  • Medicinal: yes
  • Parts Used: fruit, leaf


  • oneraindog
    31 May, 2009

    Biennial plant to as much as 6 ft. exuding a white milk if broken, with a large taproot. the leaves almost spiny, especially the lower leaves. leaves alternate up the stem, lower leaves like dandelion leaves with prickly toothed margins, pointed at the tips to 12 inches long, 4 inches wide becoming smaller up the stem all grayish to bluish green. Flowers yellow, almost stalkless and scattered about the tips of upper branches. Stalks shorter than the flowers. A collection of minute dark seeds bearing a silvery plume, parachute-like as in the Dandelion and Salsify but much smaller. Found around fence rows, old fields and pastures, roadsides. Starting to flowering in June and continuing to flower and fruit until winter frost. The milky white substance in the plant has been likened in appearance and sedative activity to opium. Taken both as an infusion and tincture wild lettuce is used as a tranquilizer and may be given to adults and children alike to ensure a sound nights sleep. It is also useful in calming anxiety and strong emotions. Combined with other herbs like licorice wild lettuce is used to cure coughs. The plant is generally very bitter and tough but in very young stages the leaves can be used like lettuce in salads, sandwiches, soups or steamed. the seeds are a source or Egyptian lettuce seed oil, a pleasant flavored, culinary oil. Folklore has long held that that the plant can stimulate and enhance the production of breast milk in lactating humans. herbal practitioners have recommended the use of Prickly Lettuce as a diuretic and also a lotion to treat chapped skin.
    Current Rating: 0.0000
    All Pictures

    Prickly Lettuce


    • Menu

      • Foraging Etiquette
      • What to Mark
      • Our Submission Contest
      • Member Ranks
      • Tutorial
    • Plants

      • Browse Edible Plants
      • Edible Plant Search
      • USDA Database Search
      • All Plants by State
      • Submit New Plant
    • Statistics

        Error performing query: No database selected