Asteraceae FAMILY

Lactuca sibirica

Edibility

1/5

Medicinal

1/5

Safety & Hazards

Although no specific mention of toxicity has been seen for this species, many plants in this genus contain a narcotic principle, this is at its most concentrated when the plant begins to flower. This principle has been almost bred out of the cultivated forms of lettuce but is produced when the plant starts to go to seed[ 13 Title Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. Publication Author Triska. Dr. Publisher Hamlyn Year 1975 ISBN 0-600-33545-3 Description Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore. ].

Botanical Description

Lactuca sibirica is a perennial plant growing from a mostly vertical rhizomatous rootstock. It usually produces a solitary stem, more or less branched in its upper part, that can be from 10 - 110cm tall, but usually from 30 - 70cm[ 74 Title Flora of the USSR. Publication Author Komarov. V. L. Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Israel Program for Scientific Translation Year 1968 ISBN - Description An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate

Native RangeNorthern and central Eurasia - Norway and Sweden, south to Ukraine, east to Russian Far East, China, Japan and Korea

HabitatSemiweedy in open forest, willow thickets, forest edges, logged areas and burns, floodplain meadows, near irrigation channels and marshes, old fields and wastelands, sometimes in cultivated fields, sometimes in wormwood or other herbshrub communities[ 74 Title Flora of the USSR. Publication Author Komarov. V. L. Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Israel Program for Scientific Translation Year 1968 ISBN - Description An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ].