Asteraceae FAMILY

Lactuca serriola

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

The mature plant is mildly toxic[ 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 serriola is an erect, annual to biennial plant producing a basal rosette of leaves and a stem that can be from 30 - 125cm tall, occasionally to 250cm[ 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, medicine and source of materials. It has occasionally been cultivated for its seed oil.

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate

Native RangeEurasia - throughout Europe, east to western Siberia, Mongolia, western China, Pakistan; N. Africa - Morocco to Ethiopia and Arabian Peninsular

HabitatWeedy and waste places near dwellings, roadsides, in crops and old fields, orchards, kitchen gardens and vineyards, on irrigated lands, by irrigation channels, on walls, gorges, ravines and valleys in mountains, foothills near streams[ 17 Title Flora of the British Isles. Publication Author Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. Publisher Cambridge University Press Year 1962 ISBN - Description A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures. , 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. ].